The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Brazil returnee, Agbasi Prosper Chux, with 105 parcels of cocaine concealed in candies at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State on Christmas Day.

The suspect was arrested at the arrival hall of the Lagos airport during inward clearance of passengers from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Doha on Qatar Airways on Sunday, December 25.

The Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this via a statement issued on Sunday.

Babafemi stated that an initial search of the suspect’s two checked-in bags almost made him a free man as there was nothing incriminating was found until the NDLEA officers took a second look at the duty-free shopping nylon bags containing packs of ‘candies’ he was holding in his hands.

He noted that a thorough examination of the duty-free shopping bags revealed the packs of candies inside were actually used to conceal 105 parcels of cocaine weighing 2.8 kilograms and 43 grams of cannabis.

The NDLEA spokesperson said a preliminary test conducted on a plastic bottle of body lotion also found in possession of the Brazil returnee also tested positive for cocaine with a total weight of 472 grams.

Babafemi stated that Chux, who was married to a Brazilian lady with a daughter, Prosper who claimed to be in clothing business in Brazil, was hoping to sell the drug in Enugu, his state.

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He added that three other traffickers were arrested by the operatives of the anti-drug agency with a total of 256 kilograms of illicit substances seized from them during interdiction operations in Kwara, Kogi, and Niger states in the past week.

“While a team of NDLEA officers on stop and search duty along Ilorin-Jebba highway on Monday 26th December arrested a suspect, Idris Saeed, 19, with 60 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 30kgs, their colleagues in Niger State on similar operation along Jebba-Mokwa road also recovered 240 blocks of the same substance weighing 168 kilograms, from multi-colour sacks loaded in a Peugeot J5 bus, with registration number MAG 146 XA, coming from Lagos and going to Kano for delivery,” the NDLEA spokesman disclosed.

Babafemi noted that the NDLEA operatives also intercepted a truck coming from Onitsha, Anambra state to Maiduguri, Borno along the Okene-Abuja highway, Kogi State, where 9,900 ampoules of pentazocine injection (42kgs) were recovered last Saturday.

He added that a 20-year-old suspect, Ibrahim Jibril, was arrested on the same route with 40 blocks of Cannabis Sativa weighing 16kgs coming from Lagos to Jigawa in a Toyota Hiace commercial bus on Tuesday, December 27, 2022.

Speaking on the arrests and seizures, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), urged the officers of the anti-drug agency alongside their compatriots across the country to step up their offensive action against drug cartels in the new year with equal focus on drug demand reduction efforts.

The Star