Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an India-bound passenger, Freeman Ogbonna at the screening point of terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos for ingesting 80 wraps of cocaine.
Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi in a statement issued Sunday said Ogbonna was arrested on Sunday 31st March while attempting to board his flight to Delhi, India via Doha on Qatar Airways, with a Liberian international passport, bearing the name: Carr Bismark.
He said he was taken for body scan, which tested positive for ingestion of illicit drugs.
Babafemi noted that preliminary checks revealed his real identity as Freeman Charles Ogbonna and was subsequently placed under observation in NDLEA custody where he started to manifest signs of discomfort.
He noted: “Obviously choked by the volume of illicit drugs in his stomach and another substance taken to hold back excretion, the suspect soon began to retch before starting to vomit and excrete wraps of cocaine he ingested almost simultaneously.
“The suspect who claimed he was recruited into drug trafficking by one of his relatives eventually passed out a total of 80 wraps of cocaine weighing 889 grams through his mouth and anus over a period of four days.
“The great risk that almost took his life notwithstanding, Ogbonna said he was given the drugs to swallow at a hotel in Ipodo area of Ikeja with a promise to reward him with N300,000 cash if he successfully delivers the consignment in India.”
In the same vein, Babafemi said NDLEA officers at the Lagos airport on Wednesday 3rd April intercepted a drug mule, Imran Taofeek Olalekan at Gate C departure of terminal 1 travelling to Oman with a check-in luggage and a backpack.
He said when his check-in bag and backpack were subjected to thorough search, the operatives discovered a false bottom concealment of drugs in the check-in luggage and in the walls of the backpack.
He added that the NDLEA officers swiftly moved in on a man who accompanied the suspect to the airport and was later identified as Ishola Isiaka Olalekan who recruited the trafficker.
