Three Nigerians have been arrested by the NDLEA while trying to courier drugs into the country at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos.
Three suspected drug traffickers, Paul Ifechukwu Mbatugosi, 32, Ugochukwu Godson Adugba, 34 and 42-year-old Friday Dominic Onuoha, have been arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), as they attempted to smuggle cocaine into the country via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos State.
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Speaking of the haul, the spokesperson of the NDLEA, Mitchell Ofoyeju, the suspects had either ingested the drugs or used other means to evade the officers but were caught all the same due to their diligence.
Ofoyeju narrated that Mbatugosi, who used to sell shoes in Enugu before he decided to be a drug courier, was caught with 1.95 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside shoe soles and that the consignment of shoes where the cocaine was concealed most likely originated from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The shoes where the cocaine was discovered
Photo Credit: NDLEA
Adugba, Ofoyeju said, had swallowed 1.50 kilograms of cocaine and was caught on his way to Sydney, Australia, while Onuoha was arrested on his way from Brazil with 850 grams of cocaine he had swallowed.
While confessing to the crime, Mbatugosi told interrogators that a friend he met in Brazil introduced him to drug trafficking.
“After my graduation from Technical College in my home town, Ihiala, Anambra State in 2002, I went to Enugu where I was selling shoes. In 2015, I travelled to Brazil in search of better opportunities.
However, while in Brazil, I worked as a barber to earn a living. After a year and three months in Brazil, I was disappointed because I had no savings. So I decided that I will get some money and be exporting shoes to Nigeria.
It was in the process of looking for start-up capital that a friend introduced me into drug trafficking. My friend bought the shoes and prepared the drugs inside 13 pairs. This is my first time and I was caught.”
Adugba, an indigene of Abia State, claimed his family lived in Australia, also blamed a friend for his venture into the drug trade, adding that he had initially turned down the proposal, but could not resist the offer of $15,000.
Onuoha, also from Abia State, said he had gone to Brazil in search of greener pastures but when none was forthcoming, he had to succumb to friends who pressured him into the crime.
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“I was not satisfied working as an event planner in Brazil because the salary was just for subsistence living. After paying my bills, there was little or nothing left. That was how I was introduced into drug trafficking.
My friend said that the only way to make quick money was through drug trafficking. He promised to pay me $15,000 and I agreed to swallow the drugs.”
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