NDLEA nabs 27-year-old accounting graduate with drugs at Kano Airport
By Tobi Adetunji
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 27-year-old graduate of Accountancy with drugs.
Zakaru Baba graduate of the Bayero University, Kano (BUK), was apprehended at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano with 6kg of cannabis sativa.
The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
The consignment was flown from Lagos to Kano on Saturday, 29th May via Max Air, Babafemi said.
The suspect who turned up to claim the packaged drug was arrested and has since confessed ownership of the exhibit, according to the statement.
Babafemi said it was the first time the Command has apprehended a suspect via the domestic wing of the airport, as most arrests and seizures are usually made at the international wing.
The agency said it also has arrested a 23-year-old secondary school leaver, Iwuyi Princewill Chukwuka, for attempting to smuggle 6.3kg of skunk to Turkey.
He was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), with the illicit drugs concealed in crayfish and stuffed inside Golden Morn packs during an outward clearance of Turkish airline flight at the departure hall of Abuja airport.
According to the statement, during interrogation, Chukwuka, claimed he was travelling for a Diploma in Tourism and Hotel Management at the University of Mediterranean, Karpasia, North Cyprus.
Also arrested was a Europe-based Nigerian, Peter Mkwo, 37, for attempting to smuggle three kilogrammes of methamphetamine to Belgium.
He was also arrested at the Abuja airport on Friday May 28, 2021 while trying to board an Ethiopian Airline 910 enroute Abuja-Addis Ababa-Brussels, Belgium.
Babafemi said when searched, three kilogrammes of methamphetamine was discovered stuffed in the lining of a false bottom of his luggage.
“Under interrogation, Peter claimed he has lived in Belgium for 15 years and worked as a forklift driver in an automobile company, where he earned 1,700 Euro per month. He said he came into Nigeria on 26th April, for the burial of his father who died in August 2019 but buried on 30th April in Awka, Anambra State.
“He said after spending two weeks in Awka, he traveled to Uyo for another week to see his sister and later to Lagos to see his girlfriend. He claimed he lodged in a hotel at Amuwo Odofin in Lagos where he met two men while hanging at the bar by the hotel’s swimming pool where they made a proposal to him to carry the drug for onward delivery to Belgium.
“He said the bag containing the drug was brought to him in the hotel by the two men on Friday 28th May before he took off to Abuja where he was to take his flight to Brussels. He said he was promised 3,000 Euros on successful delivery to one Ishmael, in Belgium.
“He claimed he accepted the offer to deliver the drug to raise some fund to pay back the money he borrowed from friends during the burial of his father,” Babafemi said.
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the NAIA Commander, Kabir Sani Tsakuwa, and his MAKIA counterpart, Mohammed Ajiya, as well as the officers and men of the two Commands for their vigilance and commitment to the task of ridding the country of illicit substances.
He charged them not to rest on their oars as the Agency intensifies the war against drug abuse and trafficking in Nigeria.
