The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Thursday arrested a 30-year-old drug trafficker with cocaine worth N2.7 billion.
NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, in a statement said Maduabuchi Chinedu was arrested with 9.30kgs of cocaine at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
He said the suspect, who hails from Obaha Okigwe village in the Okigwe local government Area of Imo State, is a miner in Liberia.
Babafemi said the suspect was detained during an inward joint check of Ethiopian Airlines aircraft 911 at the Abuja airport on Wednesday, with 9.30kg cocaine wrapped in sweets sheathe and stowed in his luggage.
“During a preliminary investigation, Chinedu stated that he fled Nigeria in 2018 and settled in Liberia, where he currently has a resident visa.” The statement said.
“Economic pressures and the need to gather money and sponsor his mother’s eye condition drove him to seek help from a friend in Liberia, who linked him to another acquaintance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who eventually gave him the drugs to deliver in Abuja for a cost of N1 million”.
“He went on to say that he was supposed to deliver the drugs in Ivory Coast but was rerouted and forced to change his destination to Nigeria at the last minute.”
