The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said that it has apprehended at least 26 drug peddlers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja in the past three months with several illicit substances.
The anti-narcotics agency also disclosed that all the arrested drug peddlers were seized aboard the East African carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, with 50 per cent of the arrested suspects travelling to South Africa.
The Agency also said that it over the weekend arrested two drug suspects at the airport with several kilogrammes of packaged and ingested drugs on the airline.
NDLEA in a statement by its Principal Staff Officer, Mr. Jonah Achema, quoted Lawan Hamisu, Commander of NDLEA at Abuja Airport as saying that recent seizures by the Command has shown that the South and East Africa routes are becoming more attractive to West African drug trafficking organisations, with Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania featuring prominently as source of transiting heroin from Pakistan to Nigeria with Ethiopian Airline as the most preferred by these criminals.
He said that NDLEA at the Abuja Airport had in the last three months intercepted 26 kilogrammes of illicit drugs consisting of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and ephedrine through Ethiopian Airline alone with almost 50 per cent of the seizures going to South Africa.
Commenting on the latest arrests, Achema said that Harriet Bolatito Solabi, 34, was intercepted on board an Ethiopian Airways aircraft that was set to depart the country with 5.5kg of illicit drugs at the airport.
Another suspect was also arrested at the same airport upon arrival from Malawi with 59 wraps of heroin weighing 865 grams, which he had ingested.
Achema said that with the arrest, NDLEA had resolved to henceforth down any airline from take-off on grounds of reasonable suspicion for illicit drugs.
The statement said that Solabi was recalled after she had checked in two big bags said to have contained personal effects and had boarded the flight No.910 to Addis Ababa while awaiting take-off.
He said that the drugs were concealed in the false bottom of the bags, noting that the suspicion made the anti-narcotics agency to hold down the aircraft from take-off until all the personal effects of Solabi were evacuated for security and investigation purposes.
He said that the suspect had travelled severally to South Africa without hitches until her arrest on her way to Johannesburg, South Africa with 3.9 kilogrammes of ephedrine and1.6 kilogrammes of methamphetamine.
Solabi is a single mother of a ten-year old daughter and holds a Higher National Diploma from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta.
During investigation, she claimed to be a trader in fabrics, which she normally travelled to South Africa to bring to Nigeria and distribute to her customers.
After her arrest, she claimed ignorant of the content of the bags, which she was requested by her contact in Pretoria, South Africa to collect from an unknown person in Lagos, adding that she had arrived Abuja from Lagos on a local flight for an onward flight to Johannesburg.
Besides, Victor Chukwu, 44, and a primary school drop-out was also arrested at the same airport upon arrival from Malawi with 59 wraps of heroin weighing 865 grams, which he had ingested.
According to him, a black woman met him in a restaurant in Malawi and talked him into bringing the illicit substance to Nigeria.
He was to call her upon arrival in Nigeria before a recipient would be directed to him.
He, however, confirmed that he had knowledge of the illicit substance, but blamed his involvement in the illicit trade on poverty.
He said: “Under my condition, I have to do anything that comes my way to survive. I hail from Ata-Orlu, Imo State and married with a child.”
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