NDLEA vows to rout desperate drug dealers bent on making money at the expense of the image of the country and Nigerians.
By Emma Ogbuehi
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), have arrested a 32-year-old drug trafficker based in Liberia, Maduabuchi Chinedu, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja with 9.30 kilograms of cocaine worth over N2.7billion in street value.
The suspect who hails from Obaha Okigwe village, Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo state, lives in Liberia where he works as a miner. He was arrested during an inward joint search of Ethiopian Airlines flight 911 at the Abuja airport on Wednesday November 14, 2021 with 9.30kg cocaine with each pellet wrapped in candies wraps and concealed in his luggage.
READ ALSO:
NDLEA intercepts fresh Cocaine, Heroin consignments at Lagos Ports
During his preliminary interview, Chinedu claimed he left Nigeria in 2018 to settle in Liberia where he now has a residence permit. He however added that economic pressure and the need to raise money to treat his mother for an eye problem led him to seek help from a friend in Liberia who introduced him to another friend based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia who eventually gave him the drug to deliver in Abuja for a fee of N1million.
He added that he was initially scheduled to deliver the drug in Ivory Coast but was rerouted to Nigeria at the last minute.
While commending the officers and men of the NAIA Command of the Agency for their vigilance and working in synergy with other security agencies at the airport, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) charged them and their colleagues in other commands to always remain two steps ahead of merchants of death who are daily getting more desperate to make money at the expense of the image of the country and Nigerians’ wellbeing.
Marwa had earlier charged officers and men of the Agency’s Strike Force Corps to go all out and root out drug barons and cartels from their hideouts across the country.
He noted that the drug scourge in Nigeria is unacceptable with almost 15 million Nigerians abusing substances, 20 percent of who are addicted, which is three times the global average.
He said; “We’re conscious of our job to block and prevent availability of narcotic drugs, and that necessitated the formation of the Strike Force to enhance our capability for complex operations. The Strike Force is the tip of our spear in our interdiction efforts and as such we must keep the tip sharpened and always ready to strike because we need to be two steps ahead of drug barons and cartels operating in the country.
