The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have seized cocaine consignments worth N4bn at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said the Agency’s operatives recovered the 845 wraps of cocaine weighing 18.72 kilograms from an international drug syndicate that operates between Brazil, Ethiopia, and Nigeria.
“The drug consignments worth Four Billion Four Hundred and Ninety-Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,492,800,000) in street value were recovered from two lavatories of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft during the post-landing cleaning of the cabin of flight ET900 from Addis Ababa to Lagos on Tuesday 29th October 2024.”
Babafemi said the consignments were “wrapped in nine polythene bags and hidden in the waste collectors in the two rear lavatories of the aircraft, from where they were recovered after the MMIA Strategic Command of the NDLEA was alerted about the strange objects.
“No fewer than 30 suspects have so far been grilled in connection with the seizure.”
According to him, the seized drugs were conveyed from Brazil to Ethiopia through ingestion and excreted in Addis Ababa by a set of couriers.
He explained that at the same time, some other traffickers picked them up and attempted to smuggle them into Nigeria through the Lagos airport before their attempt was frustrated with the cooperation of the airline’s authorities and other airport stakeholders.
Similarly, the NDLEA said “efforts by some drug trafficking syndicates to export 2.928kg cocaine, cannabis, and tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream containers, and pieces of artwork to Australia, the United Arab Emirate, and the United Kingdom through some courier companies in Lagos were also blocked by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, on Monday 28th October.
“At the Apapa seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 29th October intercepted 754, 000 pills of tapentadol and acetaminophen 225mg worth Five Hundred and Twenty-Five Million Naira (N525, 000,000) in a targeted and watch-listed container from India during a joint examination with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
“In the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, a suspect Mujahid Hamisu, 24, was arrested with 147,000 pills of tramadol concealed in black nylon bags containing plumbing materials along Kwali-Gwagwalada Abuja expressway on his way from Onitsha, Anambra state on Saturday 2nd November 2024, while another suspect Seun Abimbola, 47, was nabbed by NDLEA operatives same day with 512 grams of methamphetamine during a raid operation at Giri junction area of the FCT.”
