The
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has revealed new tactics drug
traffickers are now using to smuggle drugs into the country.
One of the suspected drug traffickers after he was caught
Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at
the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, have arrested
two suspects for drug trafficking, reports The Nation. The agency also
uncovered new tricks by drug trafficking cartels to circumvent security
checks at the nation’s airports.
A suspected drug trafficker, Roland Chukwudi Tochukwu, 37, who was
apprehended for importing 2.045kg of heroin from Nairobi, Kenya, was
found in possession of a fake travel ticket indicating that he was
coming from China.
Another suspect, Maduka Nnemeka Peter, 39, was also caught
attempting to export 1.555kg of cocaine to Dubai. Preliminary
investigation by NDLEA revealed that Tochukwu deliberately replaced his
ticket with a fake one showing that he was coming from China instead of
Nairobi.
This was intended to place him on a low risk profile but his
expectations were dashed as the heroin concealed inside his luggage was
detected during screening of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight.
NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba, while
explaining reasons for the falsification of the ticket, said drugs are
more expensive in Asia.
“The suspect wanted to distract the attention of officers by
presenting himself as coming from China while he actually took off from
Nairobi. This is because, it is economically unwise to bring narcotics
from China where the price is far higher than here in Nigeria. Heroin
weighing 2.045kg was found inside the luggage of Tochukwu while Maduka
Nnemeka Peter also concealed 1.555kg of cocaine in his luggage on his
way to Dubai on an Etihad flight,” the commander stated.
Tochukwu, a trader in Onitsha and married with three children, said his friend introduced him into drug trafficking.
“This was the plan of my friend who introduced me into drug
trafficking. I sell clothes in Onitsha but my business is as good as
dead due to the economic recession. My friend that I contacted for
financial assistance requested that I bring a bag containing heroin from
Nairobi. The fake ticket was the plan of my friend who assured me that I
will never be caught,” he stated.
Peter, an automobile parts dealer based in Aba with his wife and
two children, said family problem pushed him into drug trafficking.
“I lost goods worth N4 million few years ago and since then my
life has been a shadow of itself. I smuggled the drug for the sum of
N200, 000 to solve family problem,” he stated.
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