NDLEA Nabs Ex-Convict From Ethiopian Prison With Cocaine At Lagos Airport
By Abdullahi Ahmad Bamalli
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested an ex-convict, Onyeka Charles Madukolu at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos for importing 5.90 kilograms of cocaine concealed in cans of deodorants and ladies’ lip gloss into Nigeria.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said Onyeka who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Ethiopia for drug trafficking offences and released from prison in 2020, was again arrested on Friday 16th September 2022 at the Lagos airport on his return from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.
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The NDLEA said, “A search of his luggage revealed he had concealed 5.90kg cocaine inside cans of deodorants and female lip gloss. During a preliminary interview, he claimed to have gone into the drug business to raise fresh capital to start a legitimate business after his release from Ethiopian prison in 2020.
“The father of two kids, one from a Nigerian woman and a Brazilian lady, said he was into the motor spare parts business before going into the criminal trade. The 44-year-old indigene of Awka North local government area of Anambra State said he was expecting to be paid N2 million on the successful delivery of the illicit drug in Nigeria.”
Also, in Kogi State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Okene-Abuja expressway on Saturday 17th September, intercepted a J5 vehicle coming from Onitsha Enroute Kaduna-Zaria with 18 pieces of pump action rifles and 1,300 cartridges, while the two suspects conveying the arms and ammunition, Chukwudi Aronu, 51, and Shuaibu Gambo, 23, were arrested.
The NDLEA also said, “Another suspect, Anthony Agada, 37, conveying 1,000 cartridges, was equally nabbed in a bus coming from Onitsha to Abuja same day, while 1,404 bottles of codeine syrup and 2,040 ampoules of pentazocine injection were seized from another vehicle coming from Onitsha Enroute Sokoto, with the receiver, Stanley Raymond, 39, and the sender, Shadrack Ifediora, 46, arrested in follow up operations in Sokoto and Anambra respectively.”
Also, operatives of the NDLEA, on Tuesday 13th September, intercepted another trafficker, Chukwu Kingsley on his way to Rome, Italy on an Asky Airline flight.
A search of his luggage shows he had concealed among food condiments 11,460 tablets of tramadol 225mg with a gross weight of 5.7kg and 39 bottles of codeine syrup. The 49-year-old suspect is a known haulage agent who hails from the Oru West local government area of Imo State.
Also at the Lagos airport, a freight agent, Lawal Adeyemi was arrested the same day for attempting to export some sachets of lexotan among other non-controlled drugs to Liberia, while operatives equally seized 593.90 kilograms of khat leaf at the NAHCO import shed of the airport on Thursday, 15th September 2022, after a joint examination of the cargo by a combined team of security agencies.
