Witness narrates how Ex-HoS, allies diverted public funds to private companies in court
Passenger arrested at Lagos Airport with cocaine worth N7b
By Modupe Shodeinde
The Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, arrested a man with cocaine worth N7b on Tuesday.
The suspect, Ukaegbu Bright Onyekachi, a passenger with Ethiopian Airlines from Guarulhos International Airport, Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was caught with cocaine weighing 3.30kg.
The drug according to the Commander, MMIA, Ahmadu Garba, was concealed in 68 T-shirts.
He said: “The total weight of the seized drug is 3.30kg. It is not really a significant seizure when you compare it to the 8.5kg cocaine that was seized recently. But when you look at this seizure, the mode of concealment is very tricky. Our officials have to be experienced to discover this.
“Drug trafficking is a huge money business and definitely, anything that is money, people will want to do it. I want to say that the COVID-19 pandemic slowed them down and I want to believe they want to meet up with the lost time.
Ukaegbu, however, claimed that the check-in luggage was given to him by one Kingsley, a Nigerian based in Brazil, who he had only met twice.
He said he was unaware of the concelaed drug and appealed to the government “to temper justice with mercy”
He said he was a cooperative attendant in Brazil, and had been residing there for five years.
“I was not aware that the drug was in my check-in luggage. The person that handed over the luggage to me told me there was nothing inside the bag. I thoroughly checked the bag for drugs. What I saw there were clothes for children and adults.
“He was someone I met there as a Nigerian and his name is Kingsley. I don’t have his contact and he promised that someone will come today (Tuesday) to collect the luggage from me. I didn’t have the phone contact of Kingsley.
“This is my first time of being caught in this web. I have never been found or in possession of any drug in my life. This is my first time of experiencing this and my first time of seeing drugs.”
Ukaegbu said he wasn’t promised any payment for carrying the luggage to Nigeria.
