Officials of
the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed Int'l
Airport, Lagos, have arrested two suspects for drug trafficking.
The agency
also uncovered new tricks by drug trafficking cartels to circumvent security
checks.
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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