38-year-old tiler arrested with N2.3bn cocaine at Abuja airport

A tiler, Okey Eze, has been arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency with 350 wraps of cocaine with a street value of N2.3bn. 

 Eze was arrested with the drug weighing 7.70 kilogrammes on Wednesday during an inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian airline flight number 911 enroute Bamako-Addis Ababa- Abuja. 

 The Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Wednesday said the 38-year-old from Orji River, in the Oji-River Local Government Area of Enugu State, concealed the drug in eight packs tucked in different parts of his luggage.

Eze, according to Babafemi, claimed that he came into Nigeria with the drug because he needed to raise money to take care of his late elder brother’s four children. 

 The statement reads in part, 

“The suspect also claimed that he asked his friend who is resident in Brazil to assist him with some money but declined and instead told him to pick up a bag with the drugs from a friend of his in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a fee of N500, 000 on successful delivery to someone whose contact would be sent to him on arrival in Nigeria.

 “He also said the bag containing the drugs was given to him on Wednesday morning at Addis Ababa airport.”