NDLEA uncovers 11.5kg cannabis in NAHCO warehouse

    
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have detected 11.5 kilogrammes of dried weed suspected to be cannabis inside a container of cosmetics at the Lagos airport.

This was contained in a statement by NDLEA’s Head of Public Affairs, Mr Mitchell Ofoyeju, and made available to newsmen on Friday in Lagos.

According to the statement, the discovery was made at the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company warehouse during the screening of goods bound for a KLM flight to Suriname.

It quoted  Mr Hamza Umar, the NDLEA Commander at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos as saying that the suspect who brought the consignment for shipment to Suriname was an Aba-based electronics trader.

“Anti-narcotics agents made the discovery at the NAHCO warehouse during the screening of goods bound for a KLM flight to Suriname.

“During our search operation, officers found that some of the soap containers had been replaced with dried weed that tested positive for cannabis. The drugs weighed 11.5kg,’’ it quoted him as saying.

According to the statement, the suspect claimed to have been introduced to drug smuggling by a friend when his business was no longer flourishing.

“I am a trader living at Aba, Abia State. It was my friend that introduced me to smuggling cannabis to South America. He told me that I could earn as much as $5,000.

“My business has been going down and I am indebted. This is my first time,’’ the suspect was quoted as saying.

In the statement, the Chairman of NDLEA, Mr Ahmadu Giade, was also quoted as commending the officers for detecting the drugs.

“This arrest and seizure is commendable. I urge members of the public to avoid drug trafficking and report suspected drug traffickers to the agency.

“We shall take necessary measures to prevent drug traffickers from using this country as their originating base for moving drugs,’’ he said.