Brazil Returnee Arrested at Lagos Airport with 105 Parcels of Cocaine in Candies

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted 105 parcels of cocaine concealed in candies by a Brazil returnee, Agbasi Prosper at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The suspect, according to the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi was arrested at the ‘D’ arrival hall of the MMIA on Christmas Day during inward clearance of passengers from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Doha on Qatar Airways, following credible intelligence.

Babafemi said an initial search of the suspect’s two checked in bags almost made him a free man as there was nothing incriminating found there until the NDLEA officers took a second look at the duty-free shopping nylon bags containing packs of ‘candies’ he was holding in his hands.

He noted that a thorough examination of the duty-free shopping bags revealed the packs of candies inside were actually used to conceal 105 parcels of cocaine weighing 2.8 kilogrammes and 43 grams of cannabis.

The spokesman revealed that preliminary test conducted on a plastic bottle of body lotion also found in possession of the suspect, also tested positive to cocaine with a total weight of 472 grammes.

He said Prosper, who has a Brazilian woman has a wife and a daughter, claimed to be into clothing business in Brazil and was hoping to sell the drug in Enugu, where he hailed from.

Babafemi also disclosed that three other traffickers were arrested by operatives with a total of 256 kilogrammes of illicit substances seized from them during interdiction operations in Kwara, Kogi and Niger state in the past week.

He said a team of NDLEA officers on stop and search duty along Ilorin-Jebba highway on Christmas Day arrested a suspect, Idris Saeed, 19, with 60 blocks of compressed cannabis sativa weighing 30 kilogrammes, their colleagues in Niger state on similar operation along Jebba-Mokwa road also recovered 240 blocks of the same substance weighing 168 kilogrammes, from multi-colour sacks loaded in a Peugeot J5 bus, with registration number MAG 146 XA, coming from Lagos and going to Kano for delivery.

Babafemi said in Kogi state, operatives intercepted a truck coming from Onitsha, Anambra state to Maiduguri, Borno state along Okene-Abuja highway where 9,900 ampoules of pentazocine injection (42 kilogrammes) were recovered on Saturday 24th December, also a suspect, Ibrahim Jibril, 20, was arrested on the same route with 40 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 16 kilogrammes coming from Lagos to Jigawa in a Toyota Hiace commercial bus last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, while commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Kwara, Kogi and Niger state Commands for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) urged them along with their compatriots across the country to step up their offensive action against drug cartels in the new year with equal focus on drug demand reduction efforts.

Michael Olugbode

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