NDLEA Uncovers Drug Cartel At Akanu Ibiam Int’l Airport Enugu

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Friday uncovered a suspected drug trafficking cartel at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu.

This is contained in a statement issued by the agency’s spokesperson in Lagos, Mr Mitchel Ofoyeju, which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

According to the statement, two officers of the agency, Daniel Goska and Ndubuisi Ughor, who are indicted and currently at large, have been summarily dismissed and declared wanted.

“Other suspected members of the group include Ifeanyichukwu Dayson, a key member of the drug trafficking organisation, and Emmanuel Okorie an Operations manager with Ethiopian Airline,’’ it stated.

It said one Henry Amaechi, a Supervisor, Passenger Service Department of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc and Jacob Ezeugwu a ticket and baggage staff at the airport were among the suspects.

The statement quoted the NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade, who described the mode of operation of the drug cartel as strange, as promising to adhere to global best practice in drug control.

He added, “The drug was packed in three bags. Two of the bags weighing 50.7kg were destined for Maputo, Mozambique while the third bag weighing 24kg was destined for Johannesburg, South Africa.

“It was gathered from the investigation that whenever the cartel had a consignment of drug, the airline operations manager will identify passengers on the flight whose bags are weighing less and tag the luggage in their names.

“Once this is done, they will contact their partners at the airport of final destination with the tag numbers to receive the consignments.

“These findings were further corroborated by the statements of the innocent passengers whose names were used to tag the bags containing the 74.7kg of Ephedrine.

“When invited for questioning, it was discovered that they had no knowledge of the bags tagged in their names,” the statement stated.