NDLEA arrests cocaine suspects using new courier methods at Lagos Airport

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, attached to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, have arrested two suspected drug traffickers found with wraps of a narcotic drug that tested positive as cocaine, estimated at 485 grammes. One of the suspects was caught hiding the illicit drug in the collar of his jacket, a new method adopted by couriers of drugs. He was on his way from Brazil. Most of the suspects either ingest the drugs or hide them in their anus. Spokesman for NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, said the other suspect, Anazodo Innocent, was found to have inserted wraps of cocaine into his anus on his way to Italy. Ofoyeju hinted that the two suspects were arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos. Commenting on the arrests, NDLEA Commander at the Lagos airport, Mr. Ahmadu Garba, gave the names of the suspects as Anazodo Innocent, 46, and Agwu Samuel, 31. He emphasised that the two suspects were arrested over unlawful possession of cocaine. He explained that Innocent was found with seven pellets of cocaine weighing 375 grammes inserted in his anus; while Samuel had 10 pellets of cocaine weighing 110 grammes concealed inside his jacket. He declared that both arrests were made during routine check on passengers. He added: “Agwu was nabbed during inward screening of passengers on a South Africa airline flight from Brazil through Johannesburg. The second suspect, Anazodo, was caught during screening of passengers on a Royal Air Maroc flight while going to Milan, Italy.” Garba stated that Samuel had confidently wore the jacket containing cocaine and hoped to beat the security networks at the airport, but noted that the suspect was arrested shortly after he disembarked from the aircraft on his way from Sao Paulo, Brazil. “This is the first discovery of cocaine inside the collar of a jacket by the NDLEA. The suspects have owned up to the crime and are cooperating with investigators,” he said. In his reaction, chief executive of the agency, Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, described the suspects’ action as desperately crafty and cunning.