Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have recovered parcels of cocaine weighing 1.20 kilograms from a Spain-based businessman, Francis Akajiobi, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State.
Akajiobi, a 50-year-old man, had concealed the cocaine in the soles of a pair of black sandals he was wearing while attempting to board a flight to Madrid.
A statement by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, said Akajiobi confessed that he was to deliver the cocaine to his friend and neighbour for €5,000.
The statement read, “A Spain-based businessman, 50-year-old Francis Akajiobi, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the MMIA, Ikeja Lagos, after parcels of cocaine weighing 1.20 kilograms were discovered in his pair of sandals while attempting to board his Royal Air Maroc flight to Madrid, Spain.
“The two parcels of cocaine were concealed in the soles of a pair of black sandals Akajiobi was wearing to board his flight when the NDLEA operatives intercepted him on Thursday 25th July 2024. During his preliminary interview, he claimed the consignment was delivered to him at a bar in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and was to deliver it to his friend and neighbour in Spain for a fee of €5,000 upon successful delivery to the recipient.”
Babafemi also said one Makinde Lekan was arrested in connection with 99 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 51.60kg which arrived from Canada.
He said, “In the same vein, a suspect, Makinde S Lekan, has been arrested in connection with the seizure of 99 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 51.60kg that arrived at the SAHCO Imports shed of the Lagos airport on a Turkish Airlines flight from Canada via Istanbul, Turkey.”
Babafemi noted that the NDLEA apprehended a Lagos-Ghana tramadol syndicate kingpin, Chukwuemaka Obodozie, in Lagos with 100,000 tablets of 225 mg tramadol.
He said, “Meanwhile, operatives of a Special Operations Unit targeting syndicates that specialise in shipping large consignments of opioids into neighbouring countries from where they attempt smuggling them into Nigeria in smaller quantities through transport companies, have arrested one of the kingpins, Chukwuemaka Obodozie.
“He was arrested in the early hours of Sunday, July 21, at the Cele bus stop on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos with 100,000 tablets of tramadol 225mg loaded in two bags shortly after he arrived from Ghana via one of the transport companies plying the Lagos-Ghana route. The intelligence-led operation followed five months of surveillance around Chukwuemeka.”
