The NDLEA Apprehends a Cocaine Trafficker with N2.3 billion at Abuja International Airport.

NDLEA

The NDLEA Apprehends a Cocaine Trafficker with N2.3 billion at Abuja International Airport.

The NDLEA apprehends a cocaine trafficker with N2.3 billion at Abuja International Airport.

Okey Eze, a Nigerian who claims to be a tiler by profession, was apprehended by NDLEA operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja with 350 wraps of cocaine worth over N2.3 billion in street value NewsReport gathered.

The 38-year-old Eze, from Orji River in Enugu State’s Oji-River Local Government Area, was apprehended on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, during an inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 911 route Bamako-Addis Ababa-Abuja.

The illegal drug weighed 7.70 kilograms and was hidden in eight packs tucked in various parts of his luggage. In his confession, Eze, a resident of Bamako, Mali, stated that he has been traveling to Mali via the Seme border crossing in Badagry, Lagos state, since 2019. He also claimed that he brought the drug into Nigeria to raise money to care for his late elder brother’s four children.

The suspect also claimed he asked a friend in Brazil for money but was refused, instead of telling him to pick up a bag containing the drugs from a friend in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia for a fee of N500,000 on successful delivery to someone whose contact information would be sent to him upon arrival in Nigeria.

He also stated that the bag containing the drugs was given to him at the Addis Abeba airport on Wednesday morning.

Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/CEO of the NDLEA, has praised the Commander, officers, and men of the NAIA command for their vigilance. He stated that the new NDLEA, led by him, would continue to deal decisive blows to the various cartels attempting to turn Nigeria into a drug hub.