Barely three days after the officials of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) nabbed a passenger with cocaine worth N7 billion at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), the command has again arrested another traveller with the same banned substance.
Mr. Ukaegbu Bright Onyekachi, a passenger with Ethiopian Airlines from Guarulhos International Airport, Sao Paolo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was on Monday arrested with substance suspected to be cocaine by the officials of the agency at the E-arrival wing drugs MMIA.
The impounded drugs weighed 3.30kg as at the time of seizure.
Ukaegbu, in his defence claimed that he was unaware the drug was concealed in the check-in luggage allegedly given to him by one Kingsley, a Nigerian based in Brazil.
Speaking on the arrest of the suspect, Mr Ahmadu Garba, the NDLEA Commander at the Lagos international airport, Mr Ahmadu Garba, said that the suspect cleverly concealed the drug in 68 T-shirts after heat transfer, probably in a factory in Brazil.
The mode of concealment Garba said was ingenious, but assured that NDLEA officials with their experience would continue to expose any modes of concealment by the couriers.
According.to Garba: “The total weight of the seized drug is 3.30kg. It is not really a significant seizure when you compare it to the 8.5kg cocaine that was seized recently, but when you look at this seizure, the mode of concealment is very tricky. Our officials have to be experienced to discover this.
“Drug trafficking is a huge money business and definitely, anything that is money, people will want to do it. I want to say that the Covid-19 pandemic slowed them down and I want to believe they want to meet up with the lost time.
“However, during the pandemic, my officers had enough time to do some refresher courses especially online. I want to say the training we had during this period had helped our officials to get learn some of the ingenious ways they conceal these drugs.”
He reiterated that the NDLEA, especially the command, would not tolerate any dastardly act through the airport, stressing that the emergence of General Buba Marwa as the Chairman of the NDLEA, had further reinvigorated the officials of the agency.
In his confessional statement, Ukaegbu who said he was a cooperative attendant in Brazil, added that he had been residing in the Southern American country for five years.
He insisted he was unaware the T-shirts were laced with cocaine and appealed to the government to “temper justice with mercy.”
He said: “I was not aware that the drug was in my check-in luggage. The person that handed over the luggage to me told me there was nothing inside the bag. I thoroughly checked the bag for drugs. What I saw there were clothes for children and adults.
“He was someone I met there as a Nigerian and his name is Kingsley. I don’t have his contact and he promised that someone will come to me today (Tuesday) to collect the luggage from me. I didn’t have the phone contact of Kingsley.
“This is my first time of being caught in this web. I have never been found or in possession of any drug in my life. This is my first time of experiencing this and my first time of seeing drugs.”
He also said Kingsley didn’t promise him any amount of money for helping to carry the luggage to Nigeria.
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