Onyeka Madukolu, an ex-convict, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly importing 5.90 kilograms of cocaine concealed in cans of deodorants and ladies’ lip gloss into Nigeria at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokesperson, in a statement on Sunday, said Onyeka was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Ethiopia for drug trafficking offences and released from prison in 2020.
According to the statement, on his return from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Addis Ababa, aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight, the drug dealer was arrested at the Lagos airport.
According to Babafemi, “A search of his luggage revealed that he concealed 5.90kg cocaine inside cans of deodorants and female lip gloss. During a preliminary interview, he claimed to have ventured into the drug business to raise fresh capital to kick-start a legitimate business after his release from Ethiopian prison in 2020.”
The statement explained that Onyeka, the father of two kids, one from a Nigerian woman and the other from a Brazilian lady, was into motor spare parts business before he commenced the criminal trade, saying that he was expecting to be paid N2m on successful delivery of the illicit drug in Nigeria.
The arrest of the producer of a new psychoactive substance, popularly called Akuskura, Qasim Ademola, in Kano State was confirmed in another development by Babafemi
He explained that anti-narcotic officers intercepted 26, 600 bottles of the illicit substance, meant for distribution across Northern States when Ademola was apprehended.
The statement stated that the consignment was impounded on Thursday September 15, 2022, on Zaria-Kano Road, Gadar Tamburawa, Kano State, while the 39-year-old proprietor from Akinyele LGA, Oyo State and three of his distributors were arrested in follow-up operations.
The statement also explained that on Tuesday, 13th September, 2022, NDLEA operatives intercepted another trafficker, Chukwu Kingsley, on his way to Rome, Italy, on an Asky Airline flight.
The statement explained that a search of his luggage showed he had concealed among food condiments, 11,460 tablets of tramadol 225mg with a gross weight of 5.7kg and 39 bottles of codeine syrup, saying that the 49-year-old suspect is a known haulage agent, who hails from Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State.
The statement stated that also at the Lagos airport, a freight agent, Lawal Adeyemi, was arrested same day for attempting to export some sachets of lexotan, among other non-controlled drugs to Liberia, while operatives equally seized 593.90 kilograms of khat leaf at the NAHCO import shed of the airport on Thursday September 15, 2022, after a joint examination of the cargo by a combined team of security agencies.