NDLEA Foils Attempt to Move Illicit Drugs to Belgium, Turkey

By Michael Olugbode

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts to export skunk and methamphetamine through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to Turkey and Belgium.

A statement issued by the spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said operatives of the agency were able to arrest a 23-year-old secondary school leaver, Iwuyi Chukwuka, and a Europe-based Nigerian, Peter Mkwo, while attempting to export nine kilogrammes of skunk and methamphetamine through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to Turkey and Belgium respectively.

He said Mkwo, 37, was arrested on May 28, 2021, while trying to board an Ethiopian Airline 910 enroute Abuja-Addis Ababa- Brussels, Belgium.

He disclosed that when he was searched, three kilogrammes of methamphetamine was discovered to be stuffed in the lining of a false bottom of his luggage.

The agency spokesman said during interrogation, Mkwo claimed he has lived in Belgium for 15 years and worked as a forklift driver in an automobile company, where he earned €1,700 per month. “Mkwo said he traveled to Nigeria on April 26 for the burial of his father who died in August 2019 but buried on April 30 in Awka, Anambra State.

“He said after spending two weeks in Awka, he traveled to Uyo for another week to see his sister and later to Lagos to see his girlfriend. He claimed he lodged in a hotel at Amuwo Odofin in Lagos, where he met two men while hanging out at the bar of the hotel swimming pool, where they made a proposal to him to carry the drug for onward delivery to Belgium.

“Mkwo said the bag containing the drug was brought to him in the hotel by the two men on May 28 before he took off to Abuja where he was to take his flight to Brussels.

“He disclosed that he was promised €3,000 on successful delivery to one Ishmael in Belgium, while claiming that he accepted the offer to deliver the drug to raise some fund to pay back the money he borrowed from friends during the burial of his father,” the spokesman said.

Babafemi said Iwuyi Chukwuka, 23, who was arrested with 6.3 kilogramme of skunk concealed in crayfish and stuffed inside Golden Morn packs during an outward clearance of Turkish airline flight at the departure hall of the Abuja airport, during interrogation claimed that he was travelling for a Diploma course in Tourism and Hotel Management at University of Mediterranean, Karpasia, North Cyprus.

In another arrest, a 27-year-old graduate of Accountancy from the Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Zakaru Baba, was arrested at the local wing of the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, with six kilogrammes of cannabis sativa.

The consignment was flown from Lagos to Kano on May 29 via Max Air.

The suspect, who turned up to claim the packaged drug, was arrested and has since confessed ownership of the exhibit. This is the first time the Command has apprehended a suspect via the domestic wing of the airport, as most arrests and seizures are usually made at the international wing Babafemi added.

In his reaction, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the NAIA Commander, Kabir Tsakuwa, and his MAKIA counterpart, Mohammed Ajiya, as well as the officers and men of the two Commands for their vigilance and commitment to the task of ridding the country of illicit substances.

He charged them not to rest on their oars, as the agency intensifies the war against drug abuse and trafficking in Nigeria.