The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Brazil-based businessman, Ezeokoli Sylva, with 700 grams of cocaine in his stomach, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, said the discovery was made by their operatives at the airport when the suspect who has lived in Brazil for 35 years returned home.
According to the statement, the 59-year-old Ezeokoli was arrested last Friday at the E-Arrival hall of the Lagos airport upon his return from Sao Paulo, Brazil on Ethiopia Airlines flight via Addis Ababa.
When he was taken for a body scan, the result confirmed that the suspect had foreign objects concealed in his stomach.
Babafemi said as a result, he was placed under excretion observation during which he expelled 29 wraps of substances that tested positive to cocaine weighing 700grams.
The NDLEA spokesman said, according to the suspect’s statement, he claimed he operates an African store in Brazil where he sells provisions, shoes and clothes.
He said the suspect claimed he bought the illicit consignment in Sao Paulo to resell in Nigeria to raise substantial capital to boost his business.
He also said NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Investigation and General Investigation (DOGI), on November 26 intercepted two consignments containing cocaine and pentazocine injection going to the United Kingdom via a courier company in Lagos.
He said while the cocaine weighing 200grams was concealed in local fabrics, 40 ampoules of pentazocine injection weighing 110grams were hidden in cartons.
The statement reads: “In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, 28th November arrested three suspects: Jamilu Adamu, 38; Umar Musa, 32; and Bunu Ali, 27, with 2,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 3,135,000 pills exol-5 at Gadar Tamburawa, Zaria road.
“No fewer than 2, 120 kilogrammes of Ghanaian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis produced in Ghana were intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the Ilesan beach, Lagos on Thursday 28th November.
“A suspect, Onibogi Muftau was arrested in connection with the seizure while four vehicles that were to convey the shipments from the water front were also recovered.’’
