Drug trafficking: NDLEA arrests woman, two others

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has arrested three Nigerians for attempting to smuggle prohibited drugs out of the country.

The NDLEA spokesman, Jonah Achema, said the smuggling attempt was foiled at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The suspected drug couriers were intercepted at the outward clearance at the airport.

The suspects are John Prince Louis Ifechukwu, Victor Chibuzor Olochukwu Anadu and Omotayo Anifowoshe.

Ifechukwu 31, from Ihiala, Anambra State, flew in from Lagos and was intercepted at the Abuja airport as he was to board his flight to Jarkata, Indonesia.

Ifechukwu, who has a shop at Balogun Market, Lagos Island and sells female wears, excreted 65 wraps of substances weighing 864 grammes out of which only one wrap tested positive to Methamphetamine, while others  tested negative to all known drugs.

Ifechukwu, who was arrested with Indonesian Trade Fair Visa and had an Ethiopia Airline ticket, claimed that he was on his way to Jarkata to bring in female wears.

He said that the trip was facilitated by a friend. The friend, he said, linked him with an unknown fellow, who handed him the lethal consignment to deliver in Indonesia.

The second suspect, Anadu, a father of four from Oraifite, near Ozobullu, Anambra State, was also intercepted on his way to Indonesia.

Achema said: “He excreted 54 wraps weighing 1,073.4 kilogrammes of the suspected substance, out of which 700 grammes tested positive to Methamphetamine, while the remaining 373.4 grammes did not test positive to any known drugs.”

Anifowoshe, 37, an indigene of Epe, Lagos State, was arrested moments after landing from Lagos and was to connect her flight to South Africa through a short cut linking the local airport to the international airport, after successfully boycotting security screening point.

Achema said: “She was intercepted with two big bags containing three kilogrammes of Ephedrine and 1.9 kilograms of Cocaine base. The drugs were concealed in the false bottom of the bags. She confessed that the luggage was handed to her by her fiancé at whose instance was the trip.”

Commander of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Hamisu Lawan, commended the officers and men who were able to spot the suspected couriers in spite of all odds.

He called for the provision of drug detecting equipment at the Airport.