NDLEA Arrests Lagos Businessman Over Cocaine Hidden In UK-Bound Food Cartons

A Lagos businessman has been arrested after anti-drug officers linked him to a cocaine consignment hidden inside food cartons meant for the United Kingdom.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said 55-year-old Onuigbo Ndubisi Chinedu, a clothing trader at Balogun Market on Lagos Island, was arrested on July 23 after officers traced a 3.30kg cocaine shipment intercepted at the export shed of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The consignment had been concealed in the walls of cartons used to package foodstuffs. Three cargo agents were first arrested for handling the shipment before investigators traced the delivery chain to another suspect and then to Chinedu, who the agency described as the person behind the planned export.

The Lagos airport case was one part of a wider set of seizures announced by the agency. NDLEA also reported the arrest of Emmanuella Chukwu-Edo after a 2.80kg consignment of Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain, arrived from the United States aboard a United Airlines flight.

Officers also recovered 2.24 million pills of Tapentadol valued at more than ₦2.2bn from an India shipment that arrived on an Air Maroc flight, according to the agency. Another Lagos courier operation uncovered tramadol hidden inside black soap containers also headed for the UK.

The agency said the airport and courier seizures followed processed intelligence and joint cargo examinations, with further investigations still underway into the networks behind the shipments.

Sources: Punch, Vanguard