News Investigators/ The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested an Ugandan woman at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, with 87 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.15kg.
This is contained in a statement by Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi on Sunday in Abuja.
Mr Babafemi said that the Ugandan woman came to Nigeria with members of her church for spiritual renewal at a prayer session in Lagos.
“When it was time to go home, 34-year-old Ugandan woman, chose a different path.
“While the rest of her delegation flew back to Uganda, she stayed behind, not to pray some more, but to pick up a consignment of cocaine, which she hid in her private part in a bid to smuggle it into her country.
“Her plan, however, came crashing down at the MMIA, when the NDLEA operatives intercepted her at the screening point of Terminal II during a joint passenger screening exercise with aviation security personnel.
“She was due to board an Ugandan airline flight to her home country. A body search on her pointed to a substance concealed around her pelvic region, after which she was taken to a designated private search room for a secondary search.
“This led to the recovery of 87 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.150kg, strapped around her pelvic region and held in place beneath two layers of underwear,”he said.
Babafemi however, said that during preliminary interview, the suspect, said had arrived in Nigeria on Oct. 29 with members of her church for a prayer session at The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Ikotun Egbe area of Lagos.
According to him, she claimed that after the prayer session, the other members of her delegation returned to Uganda while she stayed back to collect the illicit consignment on behalf of a friend, simply identified as Joy, who resides in Uganda.
“She said that Joy directed her to a contact in Nigeria who arranged a vehicle to bring her to a hotel on the morning of her scheduled departure.
“It was there, she said, that the man handed her the drug and instructed her to hide it beneath her clothing to beat security screening at the airport.
“She claimed no definite fee was agreed for the trip, but that she expected to be paid not less than 1,000 dollars on successful delivery,”he said.
In another interception at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives on Friday, uncovered 750,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, weighing 526kg with a street value of N900 million.
Babafemi said that the drugs were concealed in a consignment from India declared as Paracetamol Tablets 500mg.
He said that the consignment, made up of eleven cartons packed in two wooden structures, arrived at the import shed of the airport on Nov. 3 aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Ahmedabad, India.
“Suspicious of the declaration, NDLEA officers placed the cargo under surveillance until a joint examination with officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and other sister agencies on Friday.
“The opioid pills were found in ten of the eleven cartons, while only the last carton contained paracetamol tablets as cover,”he said.
Also, at the import shed of the airport, NDLEA operatives on Nov. 4 intercepted 32 parcels of Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 16.15kg.
Babafemi said that the drugs were concealed inside two wooden sofas in a consolidated cargo that arrived from Houston, Texas, United States aboard a Turkish Airlines flight.
He said that a freight agent who came forward to clear the consignment was taken into custody.
“In a follow-up operation on Friday, 6, a 34-year-old caterer from Ibadan, Oyo state, walked in to collect the package was arrested. The suspect claimed he was sent by a friend,”he said.
NAN