Ndubuisi Uzoh, a suspected drug trafficker, was apprehended by agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, about 5.30 p.m., Uzoh, who traveled from Brazil through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was detained with 6.7 kilograms of cocaine hidden in his garments during an inward screening of Ethiopian airline passengers at the airport’s arrival hall.
Femi Babafemi, an NDLEA spokesperson, said the suspect said he would have been paid N3 million if he had successfully delivered the drugs.
Another 53-year-old trafficker, Charley Udeh, was arrested on Friday, December 3, 2021, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, for ingesting 72 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.253kg during outward screening of Ethiopian airline passengers flying to Rome, Italy via Addis Ababa, according to Babafemi.
He said, “In custody, he claimed he would have been paid 4,000 Euros on the successful delivery of the drugs in Italy where he had been living for over 20 years. He attributed his decision to engage in the ignominious trade on the downward turn of his business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The NDLEA spokesperson explained that another 25-year-old Ghanaian, John Kadja, whose father was from Kumasi, Ashanti, and mother from Nsukka, Enugu State, was arrested on Friday, December 3, 2021, with 2kg of methamphetamine during an outward clearance of Qatar Airways from Abuja to Doha at the departure screening area of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
He noted that the drug was concealed in a false bottom of his checked-in luggage.
“On Friday, December 3, NDLEA operatives intercepted a truck at the Onitsha head bridge heading for Delta State. Upon a search, various quantities of codeine, tramadol, diazepam, and rohypnol were recovered from the vehicle and its driver, Obinna Obinwa, was arrested. Similarly, on Wednesday, December 8, the agency’s patrol team on Onitsha head bridge intercepted another truck going to Delta with different quantities of assorted illicit drugs while the driver, Lucky James, was also arrested.
Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) ordered the agency’s troops and officers to be attentive and steadfast in their goal to cleanse the country of illicit drugs.
Ada Peter
