The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a former footballer, Okafor Emmanuel Junior, at the Lagos Airport when he arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on board an Ethiopian airlines flight with 1.40kg of crack cocaine concealed in his bags.
An NDLEA statement on Sunday said the 33-year-old indigene of Abia State was arrested on September 26, 2022, after anti-narcotic officers discovered that, he concealed the illicit substance in the handles of his bags and padded the top edges of same with the class A drug.
During preliminary interview, Okafor disclosed that he was an ex-footballer with the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Enugu FC, where he played for four seasons before leaving for Sri Lanka in 2014.
In another development, operatives of the Agency arrested another Brazilian returnee, Ibeh Chinedu Damian, same day, upon his arrival at the Lagos airport from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Ethiopian airlines flight.
Ibeh, who hails from Ahiazu, Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, was found to have concealed 3.20kg of black cocaine popularly known as ‘Lucci’ in the false bottoms of his two bags.
In his statement, he said he was to be paid N3,100,000 after the successful delivery of the drug in Nigeria.
In the same vein, attempt by a 32-year-old businesswoman, Mrs Pamela Odin, to traffic 2.150kg tablets of Rohypnol through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Nigeria (NAIA), Abuja to Istanbul, Turkey has been thwarted by NDLEA operatives.
The mother of one was arrested on September 23 while attempting to board a Turkish airline flight with the drug concealed inside pepper and packed among foodstuff.
The suspect claimed, she operates a restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey but came to Nigeria to see her relatives and buy food items for her restaurant business.
Meanwhile, two Malians, Mohammed Demoele, and Coulibaly Maliki have been arrested by officers of the Marine Unit of the NDLEA at Ebute Ero jetty in Lagos for attempting to export 34.2kg bottles of new psychoactive substance, Akuskura to Mali through Cotonou, Benin Republic.
In Taraba State, operatives on Thursday, intercepted 100 compressed blocks of Cannabis Sativa weighing 73.500kg, concealed inside animal feeds, while their counterparts in Ogun State on Saturday 1st October arrested a physically challenged drug dealer, Abdulraham Mohammed, with 104kg of compressed Cannabis Sativa recovered from him.
Another suspect, Ms Safiya Bello, the statement said, was also arrested in the Shagamu area of the state with 27kg of the psychotropic substance.
@ Nigerian Tribune
