Sunday, November 3, 2024 -The bid by members of an international drug syndicate that operates between Brazil, Ethiopia and Nigeria to smuggle into Lagos a total of 845 wraps of cocaine weighing 18.72 kilograms has been thwarted and the consignments recovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja.
A statement released on Sunday, November 3 by NDLEA spokesperson, Femi
Babafemi, says the drug consignments worth Four Billion Four Hundred and
Ninety-Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,492,800,000) in street
value were recovered from two lavatories of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft
during the post landing cleaning of the cabin of flight ET900 from Addis Ababa
to Lagos on Tuesday 29th October 2024.
The illicit drug consignments were wrapped in nine polythene bags and
hidden in the waste collectors in the two rear lavatories of the aircraft, from
where they were recovered after the MMIA Strategic Command of NDLEA was alerted
about the strange objects. No fewer than 30 suspects have so far been grilled
in connection with the seizure.
Investigations revealed that the seized drugs were conveyed from Brazil
to Ethiopia through ingestion and excreted in Addis Ababa by a set of couriers
while some other traffickers picked them up and attempted to smuggle them into
Nigeria through the Lagos airport before their attempt was frustrated with the
cooperation of the airline’s authorities and other airport stakeholders.
In the same vein, attempts by some drug trafficking syndicates to export
2.928kg cocaine, cannabis and tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream
containers, and pieces of art work to Australia, United Arab Emirate and United
Kingdom through some courier companies in Lagos were also blocked by NDLEA
officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, on
Monday 28th October.
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