3 nabbed with drugs at Abuja, Kano airports

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts by one Peter Mkwo (37) and one Iwuyi Princewill Chukwuka (23) to export skunk and methamphetamine through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, to Belgium and Turkey respectively. Spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Tuesday in Abuja, said Mkwo (37) was arrested […]

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled attempts by one Peter Mkwo (37) and one Iwuyi Princewill Chukwuka (23) to export skunk and methamphetamine through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, to Belgium and Turkey respectively.

Spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Tuesday in Abuja, said Mkwo (37) was arrested on Friday, May 28, 2021, while trying to board Ethiopian Airline 910 in Abuja headed for Brussels, Belgium.

He said three kilogrammes of methamphetamine was stuffed in the lining of the bottom of his luggage, and that, “Under interrogation, he claimed he had lived in Belgium for 15 years and worked as a forklift driver in an automobile company where he earned 1,700 Euro per month.

“He said he came to Nigeria on 26th April for the burial of his father who died in August, 2019, and was buried on 30 April in Awka, Anambra State.

“He said after spending two weeks in Awka, he travelled to Uyo for another week to see his sister and later to Lagos to see his girlfriend.”

Babafemi further said the suspect claimed he lodged in a hotel in Lagos where he met two men while hanging at the bar by the hotel’s swimming pool where they made a proposal to him to carry the drug for onward delivery to Belgium and was promised €3,000 on successful delivery to one Ishmael in Belgium.

He added that Nkwo said he accepted the offer to raise money to pay back money he borrowed from friends during the burial of his father.

In the same vein, Chukwuka was arrested with 6.3kg of 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.

Babafemi said Chukwuka claimed he was travelling for a diploma study at the University of Mediterranean, Karpasia, North Cyprus.

Similarly, 27-year-old graduate of Accountancy of the Bayero University Kano (BUK), Zakaru Baba, was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, with six kilogrammes of cannabis sativa.

The consignment was flown from Lagos on Saturday, May 29, via Max Air.

The suspect who turned up to claim the package was arrested and has since confessed ownership of the exhibit.