Brazilian returnee Emmanuel Okafor has been arrested by Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on his arrival from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on board an Ethiopian airlines flight with 1.40kg of crack cocaine concealed in his bags.
According to Galaxy TV, The 33-year-old indigene of Arochukwu Local Government, Abia State was arrested on Monday 26th September 2022 after anti-narcotic officers discovered he concealed the illicit substance in the handles of his bags and padded the top edges of same with the class A drug.
During the preliminary interview, Okafor disclosed that he was an ex-footballer with the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH Enugu FC, where he played for four seasons before leaving for Sri Lanka in 2014. He further stated that he moved to Brazil from Sri Lanka after playing for two seasons but could not advance his football career in Brazil due lack of official documents.
Another Brazilian returnee, Ibeh Chinedu Damian was arrested the same day upon his arrival at the Lagos airport from Sao Paulo, Brazil via an Ethiopian airlines flight. Ibeh who hails from Ahiazu, Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, was found to have concealed 3.20kg of black cocaine popularly known as ‘Lucci’ in the false bottoms of his two bags.
In his statement, he said he was to be paid three million, one hundred thousand nairas (N3,100,000) for the successful delivery of the drug in Nigeria.
In the same vein, an attempt by a 32-year-old businesswoman, Mrs Pamela Odin to traffic 2.150kg tablets of Rohypnol through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja to Istanbul, Turkey has been thwarted by NDLEA operatives. The mother of one was arrested on Friday 23rd Sept. while attempting to board a Turkish airline flight with the drug concealed inside the pepper and packed among foodstuff.
