The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two ladies and six men over alleged attempts to import hundreds of cocaine pellets into Nigeria.
The suspects were alleged to have attempted to export 255mg of tramadol tablets among other illicit drugs to Europe.
This was contained in a statement by Femi Babafemi, the director of media and advocacy, NDLEA, issued on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said that the suspects had attempted to beat security at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, (NAIA), Abuja; Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, and Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Lagos.
He said the streaks of arrests and seizures began on Sunday, July 17 when a 52-year-old father of three was arrested.
This, he said, followed his arrival from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via an Ethiopian airline flight at the Abuja airport, and was discovered to have ingested 76 pellets of cocaine.
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“During preliminary interview, the suspect who hails from Enugu Ezike, Igbo Eze LGA, Enugu state, said he was into sales of women’s wigs and hair attachment before veering into the drug trade.
“He has since completed excreting all the 76 wraps of the drug he swallowed while under observation at the agency’s facility in Abuja,” he said.
The NDLEA spokesman said that another father of three was arrested on the same day in an operational synergy between NDLEA and the Nigeria Customs Service at the NAIA.
Babafemi said that the 42-year-old suspect from Umuahia in Abia state was arrested during an inward clearance of an Ethiopian Airline flight from Addis Ababa with 529 pellets of cocaine weighing 11.70kg concealed in his bag.
“In his statement to anti-narcotic officers, the suspect claimed he was promised N2 million.
“The suspect said that he planned to use the proceeds to boost his business upon successful delivery of the cocaine consignment in Abuja,” the NDLEA official said.
Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives also on Saturday, July 23, arrested a 29-year-old woman at the Enugu airport upon arrival on an Ethiopian airline flight from Addis Ababa.
He said that a search of her luggage led to the discovery of 2.192kg of cocaine concealed in two designer women’s handbags with false linings.
