Two arrested with 2.7kg cocaine at Kano airport

Two Nigerians from the eastern part of the country have been nabbed by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano, northwest Nigeria, for ferrying into the country 2.7 kg of substances suspected to be cocaine.

Mr. Ambrose Umoru, NDLEA Commander at the airport, told journalists on Tuesday that David Ikechukwu, 32, and Patrick Otaka, 48, entered Nigeria aboard Ethiopian Airline with flight No. ET 911 with the substance suspected to be cocaine.
While parading the suspects, he said they were arrested at the Arrival Hall of MAKIA after they were scanned and strange objects identified in their body.

The 2.7 kg of cocaine ingested by the duo has a street value of over N15 million.

He said they flew from Nairobi enroute Addis Ababa and finally landed in Kano where they were arrested, adding that Ikechukwu who hails from Orlu in Imo State was nabbed with 60 ingested wraps of suspected cocaine weighing 1.250kg, while Otaka who hails from Abriba in Abia State ingested 72 wraps of substances suspected to be cocaine with a total weight of 1.450kg.

“The two suspects had separately boarded Ethiopian Airline flight in Nairobi, Kenya and headed to deliver the drugs in Nigeria. The two suspects had agreed to traffic in drugs so as to raise money to revitalize their dwindling businesses and take care of their respective families as they professed to be bread winners,” Mr. Umoru noted.

The NDLEA boss, however, added that luck ran out on them, “as the collaboration with our narcotics International Intelligence Network yielded the desired result. The two suspects were promptly arrested on arrival at the Arrival Hall of MAKIA.

“Upon subjecting them to body scanner, it was discovered that they ingested a total of 132 wraps of substances suspected to be cocaine. Investigation into the case is ongoing and they will be charged to court as soon as possible,” he said.

Umoru also revealed that Ikechukwu would have died as one of the wraps burst in his stomach, but was saved by medical doctors in a Kano hospital warned on the health implication of consuming illicit drugs, adding that NDLEA at MAKIA will not condone the activities of drug peddlers.

Speaking to journalists, Otaka who admitted the crime, said he was forced into it as a result of frustration and poverty.