Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, have arrested an ex-convict Mr. Onyeka Charles Madukolu for alleged importation of 5.90 kilogrammes of cocaine into Nigeria.
Spokesman for the agency, Mr. Femi Babafemi said in a statement that the contraband was concealed in cans of deodorants and female lip gloss.
Babafemi said the 44-year-old ex-convict, who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Ethiopia for drug trafficking offences, was released from prison in 2020 and arrested on Friday, September 16 at the Lagos Airport on his return from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
He said Onyeka, who hails from Anambra State, had admitted that he went back to the drug business to raise fresh capital to start a legitimate business after his release from Ethiopian prison in 2020.
He added that the suspect who is blessed with two children, one each from a Nigerian woman and Brazilian lady, said he was a dealer in motor spare parts before going into the criminal trade.
The NDLEA spokesman further said Onyeka confessed that he was expecting N2 million upon successful delivery of the drug in Nigeria.
Similarly, Babafemi said NDLEA’s operatives on Tuesday, September 13, intercepted another trafficker, Mr. Chukwu Kingsley, on his way to Rome, Italy on an Asky Airline flight.
He said a search on Kingsley revealed that the 49-year-old suspect who is a known haulage agent had concealed among food condiments 11,460 tablets of tramadol 225mg with a gross weight of 5.7kg and 39 bottles of codeine syrup.
Also at the Lagos airport, the NDLEA spokesman said a freight agent, Mr. Lawal Adeyemi, was also arrested ON THE same day for attempting to export some sachets of lexotan among other non-controlled drugs to Liberia.
On Thursday, September 15, Babafemi said NDLES operatives seized 593.90 kilogrammes of khat leaf at the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) import shed of the airport after a joint examination of the cargo by a combined team of security agencies.
