Men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts by a 23-year-old secondary school leaver, Iwuyi Princewill Chukwuka, and a Europe-based Nigerian, Peter Mkwo, to export 9kg of skunk and methamphetamine through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to Turkey and Belgium respectively.
This was disclosed in a statement released on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
Peter Mkwo
37-year-old Mkwo was arrested on Friday May 28, 2021, while trying to board an Ethiopian Airline 910 enroute Abuja-Addis Ababa- Brussels, Belgium. 3kg of methamphetamine was discovered stuffed in the lining of a false bottom of his luggage when he was searched.
While being interrogated, he claimed he had lived in Belgium for 15 years and worked as a forklift driver in an automobile company, where he earned 1,700 Euros monthly.
Mkwo said he came into Nigeria on 26th April, for the burial of his father who died in August, 2019 but buried on 30th April in Awka, Anambra State. After spending two weeks in Awka, he traveled to Uyo for another week to see his sister and later to Lagos to see his girlfriend.
According to him, he Lodged in a hotel at Amuwo Odofin in Lagos State, where he met two men while hanging at the bar by the hotel’s swimming pool, where they made a proposal to him to carry the drug for onward delivery to Belgium.
The suspect said the bag containing the drug was brought to him in the hotel by the two men on Friday 28th May before he took off to Abuja where he was to take his flight to Brussels. He said he was promised Three Thousand (3,000) Euro on successful delivery to one Ishmael, in Belgium.
Mkwo claimed he accepted the offer to deliver the drug in order to raise some fund to pay back the money he borrowed from friends during the burial of his father.
Similarly, 23-year-old Iwuyi Princewill Chukwuka was arrested with 6.3kg skunk concealed in cray fish and stuffed inside Golden Morn packs during an outward clearance of Turkish airline flight at the departure hall of the Abuja airport.
Princewill Chukwuka
During interrogation, Chukwuka claimed he was travelling for a Diploma study in Tourism and Hotel Management at University of Mediterranean, Karpasia, North Cyprus.
In another development, a 27-year-old graduate of Accountancy, Bayero University, Kano State, Zakaru Baba, was arrested at the local wing of the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano State with 6kg of cannabis sativa.
NDLEA said the consignment was flown from Lagos to Kano on Saturday, 29th May via Max Air. The suspect, who turned up to claim the packaged drug, was arrested and has since confessed ownership of the exhibit.
The agency noted that it was the first time the Command apprehended a suspect via the domestic wing of the Airport, as most arrests and seizures are usually made at the international wing.
