The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Brazil returnee, Udechukwu Ekene Theophilus, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State, for allegedly ingesting 60 big wraps of cocaine.

The suspect, who was arrested during inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the D-Arrival Hall of the Lagos airport on Sunday, January 21, 2024, was said to have initially refused to undergo body scan, raising health concerns in a desperate bid to evade arrest.

The NDLEA spokesperson made the disclosure in a statement on Sunday, January 28.

Babafemi said when the Brazil returnee was however offered other options, he accepted to be placed on excretion observation, noting that shortly after the suspect was ushered into the NDLEA observatory, he excreted the first set of cocaine pellets, after which he expelled a total of 60 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.279 kilograms in five excretions.

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He stated that Udechukwu, in his statement, claimed he ingested the consignment in Brazil and was to discharge everything at the airport in Addis Ababa but could only excrete 15 pellets which he handed over to another member of his syndicate before his connecting flight to Nigeria was called.

The NDLEA spokesman added that the anti-narcotic officers at the Lagos airport on Tuesday, January 23, recovered 12 cartons of tramadol 225mg containing 599,900 pills weighing 385.40kg from an overstayed cargo at the SAHCO import shed of the airport after a joint examination with other agencies.

Babafemi disclosed that the tramadol consignment came into the country in two batches on KLM Royal Dutch Airline flights from Karachi, Pakistan, between July 27 and August 1, 2023.

“They were however placed under watch by NDLEA operatives since then,” he noted.

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The Star