A Vietnam-bound businessman, Paul Mbadugha, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
Mbadugha was apprehended after testing positive for ingesting cocaine.
A statement, yesterday by spokesperson Femi Babafemi confirmed that Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of cocaine, weighing 1.710 kilograms.
Babafemi said, “The 54-year-old suspect was intercepted at the boarding gate of Abuja Airport, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR 1432 to Hanoi, Vietnam, via Doha. After four days under excretion observation, Mbadugha excreted a total of 88 wraps of the illicit drug with a gross weight of 1.710 kilograms.”
Babafemi further stated that the suspect claimed a Lagos-based businessman had given him the drugs to swallow for a fee of $2,000.
He said, “In his statement, he claimed he is a Lagos-based businessman and was given the cocaine pellets to swallow by a friend in the Isolo area of Lagos for onward delivery in Vietnam for a fee of $2,000.”
Babafemi also reported that a shipment of “Loud,” weighing 800 grams and concealed in noodles, was intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
He said, “Similarly, NDLEA officers at the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos, intercepted a shipment of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 800 grams concealed in noodles, destined for Congo.
“A follow-up operation at Alaba International Market in the Ojo area of Lagos led to the arrest of the sender of the consignment, Nnamani Sunday Sunny, who deals in GSM handsets.”
At Lagos Airport, Babafemi said a large consignment of Loud imported from Canada was recovered.
He stated that a suspect, Desalu Taophic Temitope, who arrived on an Air France flight with six boxes, was arrested by anti-narcotic officers during a joint examination by security agencies at the arrival hall.
“A total of 65.80 kilograms of the psychoactive substance were recovered from four of the six suitcases. In his statement, Desalu said he and an accomplice, currently at large, were promised $10,000 upon successful delivery of the shipment in Lagos.”
