Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have apprehended a 67-year-old suspected drug trafficker, Clement Chukwuemeka, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, News About Nigeria gathered.
Chukwuemeka was caught with 100 wraps of cocaine, which he had ingested.
According to Femi Babafemi, the spokesperson for the NDLEA, Chukwuemeka revealed that he had engaged in the illicit drug trade in a bid to raise enough money to marry a new wife and start life afresh.
He claimed to have spent 30 years of his life in Brazil, Ethiopia, and Thailand.
He mentioned that he had previously been married but lost his wife and had no children. As a result, he resorted to drug trafficking to finance a new beginning.
The arrest took place on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight 951 from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
A body scan of the suspect revealed multiple drug-filled pellets in his stomach.
Over the course of his detention and observation, Chukwuemeka excreted a total of 100 wraps of cocaine, weighing approximately 2.195 kilograms, in four separate excretions.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano arrested a 45-year-old woman named Bilkisu Bello on October 2, 2023.
She was about to board a Saudia Airlines flight to Saudi Arabia when she was apprehended. During her interrogation, Bello confessed that she had swallowed pellets of cocaine before her flight, which were stored in a house in the Farawa area of Kano.
The NDLEA officers subsequently recovered 52 wraps of the illicit substance, with a total weight of 767 grams, from the specified location.
Additionally, on Tuesday, October 3, NDLEA operatives, supported by personnel from the Nigerian Army, Civil Defence Corps, and Amotekun, conducted an operation in James Town, Ogunmakin, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
They discovered and destroyed 10.38 tonnes of cannabis sativa covering an area of over 4.152 hectares.
During their return from the operation, NDLEA operatives intercepted a truck with registration number FS548XN.
The vehicle was carrying a 40ft container loaded with logs of wood. Upon searching the container, they discovered two bags of cannabis sativa weighing 20 kilograms.
Six suspects in the truck—Ahmed Yusuf, Olaniyi Babatunde, Adedeji Babatunde, Richard John, Osolale Olamilekan, and Abdulazeez Saied—were subsequently arrested.
