January 01, (THEWILL) – Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a Brazil returnee, Agbasi Prosper Chux, with 105 parcels of cocaine, concealed in candies at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
The Agency, in a statement issued on Sunday, by its Spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect was arrested at the D arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), during inward clearance of passengers from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Doha, on Qatar Airways on Monday, December 25, 2022, following credible intelligence.
Babafemi explained, “An initial search of the suspect’s two checked-in bags almost made him a free man as there was nothing incriminating found there until the NDLEA officers took a second look at the duty-free shopping nylon bags containing packs of candies he was holding in his hands.
“A thorough examination of the duty-free shopping bags revealed the packs of candies inside were actually used to conceal 105 parcels of cocaine weighing 2.8 kilograms and 43 grams of cannabis.
“A preliminary test conducted on a plastic bottle of body lotion also found in possession of the suspect also tested positive for cocaine with a total weight of 472 grams.”
Married to a Brazilian lady with a daughter, Prosper, “who claimed to be in the clothing business in Brazil, was hoping to sell the drug in Enugu, his state.”
Meanwhile, three other traffickers were arrested by operatives with a total of 256 kilograms of illicit substances seized from them during interdiction operations in Kwara, Kogi and Niger states, in the past week.
While a team of NDLEA officers on stop and search duty along the Ilorin-Jebba highway, on Monday, December 26, arrested a suspect, Idris Saeed, 19, with 60 blocks of compressed Cannabis Sativa weighing 30kgs, their colleagues in Niger state on a similar operation along Jebba-Mokwa road, also recovered 240 blocks of the same substance weighing 168 kilograms, from multi-colour sacks loaded in a Peugeot J5 bus, with registration number MAG 146 XA, coming from Lagos and going to Kano for delivery.
In Kogi state, operatives intercepted a truck from Onitsha, Anambra state, to Maiduguri, Borno, along the Okene-Abuja highway, where 9,900 ampoules of pentazocine injection (42kgs) were recovered on Saturday, 24th Dec.
Similarly, 20-year-old Ibrahim Jibril, “was arrested on the same route with 40 blocks of Cannabis Sativa weighing 16kgs coming from Lagos to Jigawa in a Toyota Hiace commercial bus on Tuesday, 27th Dec.”
While commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Kwara, Kogi and Niger state Commands for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), urged them and their compatriots across the country, to step up their offensive action against drug cartels in the new year with equal focus on drug demand reduction efforts.”
