Anti-narcotic officers attached to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja have arrested three suspected drug traffickers in connection with alleged exportation of 7.51kg of hard drugs.
One of the suspects claimed to be a researcher at a university in the Netherlands.
The NDLEA said the seized drug comprised 6.35kg of cocaine and 1.16kg of heroin, all estimated at a street value of N75m.
The fake researcher, 37-year-old Enamachi Sunday, was arrested with 1kg of cocaine concealed in his luggage.
The two other suspects, Owolabi Ganiyu Atunda, 52 and Enyinwa Ukeje, 38, who claimed to be traders, were to export 1.5kg of cocaine to London and 1.16kg of heroin to Florida, United States respectively before they were arrested.
Commenting on the arrests, the NDLEA Commander at the Abuja Airport, Hamisu Lawan said, "Apart from the Researcher that concealed 1kg of cocaine in his luggage during screening of KLM passengers to Amsterdam, Owolabi Ganiyu tested positive to drug ingestion during screening of a British Airways flight to London. He later excreted 1.5kg of cocaine. Enyinwa Aka Ukeje also ingested 1.16kg of heroin on his way to the United States." The chairman/chief executive officer of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade reiterated his promise to bring drug barons and drug traffickers to book.
"There is always a day of reckoning and those who sow the seed of discord must be prepared to reap strife. We are determined to arrest all drug barons and prosecute them" Mr Giade said.
In their testimonies Mr Sunday, claimed he is a 1999 graduate of Material Engineering at the Enugu State University of Technology "I have a masters degree in Material Engineering at Delf University Netherlands. I am married with two children and I live in Enugu State, I wanted to hide under the canopy of academic research to smuggle drugs unnoticed but the law has caught up with me; I wish I did not compromise myself to traffic the drug," he said.
Mr Ganiyu said he hails from Abeokuta in Ogun State and is married with four children.
He allegedly swallowed 100 wraps of cocaine for a fee of 3,000 pounds. He said he started trafficking in hard drugs due to hardship following the demolition of his shop at Oshodi, Lagos.
"Since my shop was demolished as illegal structure at Oshodi, the past few years have been very stressful for me and my family. Feeding and payment of rent has become a difficult task. My involvement in drug trafficking was to enable me and my family survive the financial hardship," he said.
Mr Ukeje, a trader in clothes in Benin Republic is from Abia State. He was said to have ingested 53 wraps of heroin weighing 1.16kg. He said a debt of 13,000 US dollars forced him into drug trafficking business.
"I suffered huge losses in my business and needed to pay 13,000 dollars. I was involved in drug trafficking because of the 11,000 dollars they promised to pay me," he said, regretting his involvement in crime because "my wife is heavily pregnant and she may be hurt if she hears about my arrest" Mitchel Ofoyeju the spokesperson for the NDLEA said the suspects will be charged to court soon
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