Operatives 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 nine kilograms of skunk and methamphetamine through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja to Turkey and Belgium.
37-year-old Peter Mkwo was arrested on Friday, May 28, 2021, while trying to board an Ethiopian Airline 910 en route Abuja-Addis Ababa-Brussels, Belgium.
After he was searched, 3kg of methamphetamine was discovered stuffed in the lining of a false bottom of his luggage.
During interrogation, Mkwo claimed he had lived in Belgium for 15 years and worked as a forklift driver in an automobile company, where he earned ā‚¬1,700 per month.
Mkwo said he came into Nigeria on April 26, for the burial of his father who died in August 2019 but was buried on April 30 in Awka, Anambra State.
He further said that the bag containing the drug was brought to him in the hotel by two men on Friday, May 2021 before he took off to Abuja where he was to board his flight to Brussels.
He claimed he accepted to deliver the drug to raise fund to pay back a loan from friends for the burial of his father.
In the same vein, the 23-year-old Chukwuka was arrested with 6.3kg skunk concealed in crayfish and stuffed inside Golden Morn packs during an outward clearance of a Turkish airline flight at the departure hall of the Abuja airport.
During interrogation, he claimed he was travelling for a diploma study in Tourism and Hotel Management at the University of Mediterranean, Karpasia, North Cyprus.
Meanwhile, a 27-year-old graduate of Accountancy of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Zakaru Baba has been arrested at the local wing of the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano with 6kg of cannabis sativa.
The consignment was flown from Lagos to Kano on Saturday, May 29 via Max Air.
The suspect who turned up to claim the packaged drug was arrested and has since confessed ownership of the exhibit.
Tribune Online reports that this is the first time the command has apprehended a suspect via the domestic wing of the airport, as most arrests and seizures are usually made at the International wing.
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