NDLEA Arrests Man With Cocaine Worth N81m At Kano Airport

Kano airport

A drug courier, Maduagwu Nnaemeka Charles, who was arrested with three kilogrammes of cocaine worth about N81 million, has been paraded by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

The suspect was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano with the cocaine as he arrived the airport from Brazil en route Egypt.

The commandant of the agency in charge of MAKIA, Ambrose Umoru, said the dangerous drug if diluted could make up to nine kilogrammes of the substance.

The high-grade pure cocaine, according to Umoru, was neatly factory-sealed in the body-hollow of two loudspeakers brought by the suspect which he said is a new mode of concealment by drug merchants.

He said Maduagwu was arrested during screening of passengers of Egypt Air Flight No. MS 879.

“The suspect had boarded Ethiopian Airline flight No. ET 507 from Sao Paulo, Brazil and transited to Cairo, Egypt, before arriving Kano via the Egypt Airline before luck ran out on him,” he said.

The 28-year-old suspect confessed before reporters that he was in possession of two loudspeakers where the cocaine was neatly concealed, but denied knowledge of being the owner of the dangerous substance.

“I met somebody who identified himself as a Nigerian in Egypt. When I was making call, he discovered I was travelling to Nigeria and he pleaded with me to assist him deliver the loudspeakers to somebody here in Kano.

“He gave me a MTN SIM card and asked me to activate it once I got to Nigeria so that the owner of the loudspeakers would call me for his property, but little did I know that cocaine was concealed inside the loudspeakers. I don’t even know the owner, I was just trying to help.

“Yes I was caught with three kg of cocaine but I didn’t know what I was carrying,” he added.

Maduagwu said he had lived in Brazil for 18 months, adding: “All this while, I have engaged in menial jobs. The last job I got before leaving for Nigeria was in a lorry park where I load trucks. These menial jobs have been sustaining me; I don’t know how I got myself into this mess.”

He said the suspect would remain in the custody pending the conclusion of investigation that would lead to his arraignment in court.