Five people have been arrested and an operative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) is believed to be under investigation over allegations of conspiring to import cocaine from Brazil.
NDLEA staff Ali Baba Adamu began facing investigation after luggage abandoned at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos was found to contained more than two kilos of cocaine.
Four others facing interrogation include Ijeoma Ojukwu, a niece to late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and three others Victor Umeh,
Uche Igwelo and Egbuche Fidelis Osiita.
Chief executive of NDLEA, Roli Bode-George, said the agency was “following every lead professionally and will exploit more opportunities towards getting every culprit arrested.
The luggage, tagged for Agina Fidelis Ejike, was abandoned at the arrival hall during inward screening of passengers on an Emirates flight on December 28.
“On January 1, 2016, one Egbuche Fidelis Osita came with authority letter mandating him to collect the bag.
In the process, some white powdery substance weighing 2.24kg that tested positive for cocaine was discovered,” said Garba.
“The drug was neatly packed in four parcels concealed in false bottom of four female handbags.”
Four others facing interrogation include Ijeoma Ojukwu, a niece to late Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and three others Victor Umeh,
Uche Igwelo and Egbuche Fidelis Osiita.
Chief executive of NDLEA, Roli Bode-George, said the agency was “following every lead professionally and will exploit more opportunities towards getting every culprit arrested.
The luggage, tagged for Agina Fidelis Ejike, was abandoned at the arrival hall during inward screening of passengers on an Emirates flight on December 28.
“On January 1, 2016, one Egbuche Fidelis Osita came with authority letter mandating him to collect the bag.
In the process, some white powdery substance weighing 2.24kg that tested positive for cocaine was discovered,” said Garba.
“The drug was neatly packed in four parcels concealed in false bottom of four female handbags.”
NDLEA says its preliminary investigations indicate Ijeoma Ojukwu, 48 and a mother of three, runs a restaurant in Brazil and is suspected to be a member of an international drug trafficking operation.
She is alleged to have conspired to collect the abandoned luggage from the airport in hopes of retrieving the cocaine before she was arrested.
Officials also impounded an Acura MDX said to have been driven to the airport by the suspects.But Ojukwu has stated, “My brother came from Brazil and could not find his bag. It was in the process of trying to get the bag out that we were arrested.”
Uche Igwelo, 36, a public administration graduate,said she was invited by Ijeoma to assist in collecting the bag.
“I sell kitchen utensil and I am married with a child. Ijeoma met me that I should help him to collect a bag at the airport. We were trying to get the bag when NDLEA officers arrested us,” Uche, an Anambra native told investigators, according to an official statement from NDLEA.
“I sell kitchen utensil and I am married with a child. Ijeoma met me that I should help him to collect a bag at the airport. We were trying to get the bag when NDLEA officers arrested us,” Uche, an Anambra native told investigators, according to an official statement from NDLEA.
Egbuche Fidelis Osita, a 37-year-old student said that he was asked to collect the bag. “I am a 400 level student studying English Education at the Ekiti State University. My friend Victor Umeh was the person that asked me to help in claiming a luggage at the airport.
“We all drove to the airport where I was given a letter of authority and other documents of the passenger that came with the luggage. In the process of trying to collect the bag I was arrested. This is all I know about this incident,” Osita said.
culled:dailysun
can you imagine how so many people were roped into this one bag brouhaha?the original owner of the bag should be the culprit.I dont think anyone will willingly walk into an airport asking for a bag filled with cocaine...I hope Justice is served.
Wahala everywhere. Money and drugs the root of all evil
ReplyDeleteMoney ain't d love of evil babes....it's the LOVE of money dts d root of all evil.
DeleteRoot*
DeleteEnd time drug pushers
ReplyDeleteNo be small drug pushers, kwakwakwa! Dis Trillion of a human won't kill me on dis blog.
DeleteHmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteNawa o, he planned it very well bc he was expecting atleast one of d many ppl he called to collect d bag.
ReplyDeleteOk
ReplyDelete...I Am Not A Terrorist...
#emdossupernova
Well the original owner of the bag can even deny that she put the stuff in it. Claiming the bag must have been tampered with. A good lawyer can proof that. After all she was not carrying it on her when they saw the substance.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...but the NDLEA and custom can testify that they took receipt of it and it wasn't tampered with until screening. Perhaps it was even screened ahead of those who came for it... since it was in 'left luggage'. Seems like they laid a siege for them. So the traveler whose name was tagged on it is more culpable. I believe that the woman who owns a restaurant in Brazil is in on it too.. those they sent to pick up may be innocent.
DeleteExactly.......my thoughts too.
ReplyDeleteAm sure they all had an idea wat they were goin to collect, Stella forget that thing. Awon collectors
ReplyDeleteCan't they mention her name without mentioning that she's a niece to Ojukwu?
ReplyDeleteHelp me I help you just landed them in trouble. But they all know the content sha.
The Original owner of dis bag is wicked.kai
ReplyDeleteIgnorance o! Cos I am sure dese people havent heard All d numerous stories of victims of drug related offences.Esp its trafficking. Chai.
You know it's more rampant for peddlers to export rather than import. So they prolly didn't imagine anyone would bring drugs in. I guess..
DeleteWhy drag Ojukwu's name inside this mess?...meanwhile,why didn't they settle those NDLEA before bringing in drugs inside this country knowing they will be caught cos those NDLEA dey use jazz to dictate cocaine filled luggages...
ReplyDeleteWell,they will be released if they pay wella..
Na wa o
ReplyDelete@Galore
Let them prosecute and kill them all. Kwenu! Too greedy abeg
ReplyDeleteHow do u willingly carry drugs knowing u will be searched thoroughly at d airport. I don't get it at all.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to them.. yeye people
ReplyDeleteCan u imagine? Hw many wan collect only one bag?
ReplyDeleteMany innocent people have be roped into wat dey know nothing of.
Dem wan collect xmas shoe and "shat"...as per uncle just arrived from obodo oyinbo tinz na.
DeleteSad, one have to be really carefully in running errands for people.
ReplyDeleteThey should face the consequence
ReplyDeleteSee wahala.. Even innocent people will be arrested.
ReplyDeleteDrug is bad.....
They won't ever learn. Such a disgraceful act.
ReplyDeleteJust imgaine if they hd succeeded enuf big manizim nd opression!
ReplyDeleteAbeg stella leave dat tin! I don't trust Nigerians! Its connection gone wrong!
One should be really careful in running errands for people.
ReplyDeleteWho do we believe now,
ReplyDeleteDesperados...no matter who is the owner of the bag,all this people claiming ignorance of the context but av been given a token. abi that guy trek from Ekiti cum collect the bag for Lagos airport neh e no cum d giver away for sdk as good Samaritan wey e b
ReplyDeleteBiafra kwenu
ReplyDeleteStella I think the message should be for Nigerians to stop being gullible or do I call it desperation for quick cash. If you approach me and offer to pay me to retrieve a bag for you,my intuition should scream. This is why I avoid helping transport packages from one hand to another. Help me send crayfish to my sister.its just crayfish. No mbok. I'd rather be safe than sorry.
ReplyDeleteIfe neme
ReplyDeleteOnly one person owns the bag but decided to link so many clueless people. Others should be freed.
ReplyDeleteI really don't know why ppl won't just stop the drug trafficking now here's what they got themselves into
ReplyDeleteThere is that one person that shits or tries to shit on the family's legacy.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see Roli Bode George (CEO) NDLEA I just lol.
How she was put to oversee such a delicate office still baffles me.
DeleteOnye na -ekotaghi, ogodo ya ekotara ya. I hope the innocent ones will be freed .
ReplyDeleteStella, forget that thing. Is it ghost that will come and claim the bag before?
ReplyDeleteIs that not one of the reasons they are voraciously looking for dollars and other foreign currencies? And some will still come and cry foul, alleging conspiracy and deliberate attempt to frustrate them.
Smh...
They were all asked to pick up the bag unaware of what was inside.
ReplyDeleteReason I don't run errands for people anyhow
Some people don't just want to go down alone,always looking for an accomplice.
And the media should stop putting the name Ojukwu first to sell their stories.
good for them
ReplyDeleteDeal gone sour!
ReplyDeleteYea u re right Stella, my point exactly! Everyone of 'em seem naive to what d content of d bag is. Na only God&money go set dem free frm dis ish.
ReplyDeleteI doubt if they're all innocent or ignorant. All of them came to pick "one bag", they didn't come to pick the owner of the bad o,they came to pick just the bag and it's not as if the bag came in without the owner. They're all part of the syndicate and all of them were present so no one would be cheated out of his/her share.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the innocent ones roped in.
ReplyDeleteThe owner of the bag should be apprehended and made to face the music.
a.k.a EDWIN CHINEDU AZUBUKO said...
ReplyDelete.
Nna see disgrace abeg....
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***CURRENTLY IN JUPITER***