ICYMI: Newly released ex-convict arrested with cocaine at Port Harcourt airport
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 24 parcels of cocaine concealed in 12 lawnmower tyres allegedly imported into the country through the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) by a Brazilian returnee, Okechukwu Francis Amaechi.
Spokesman of the Agency, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday, said Amaechi had just finished serving a jail term in March for drug trafficking in the South American country.
Babafemi said the 45-year-old ex-convict from Idemili South local government area, Anambra State was arrested at the Port Harcourt airport on Saturday, 7th May 2022 upon his arrival from Brazil via Doha onboard Qatar Airline flight QR1433.
According to the statement, preliminary investigations revealed Okechukwu, who was arrested and convicted in Brazil for drug offences completed serving his jail sentence in March 2022, after which he decided to return to Nigeria with three new lawn mowers where he concealed 24 parcels of cocaine weighing 4.56kg.
Babafemi said: “Curiously, each parcel concealed in the tyres of the three lawn mowers bears some unique inscriptions, which are believed to be means of identification of the owners of the drug. The two parcels in one of the tyres of the first lawn mower bear ‘O LORD’ and ‘HAVE MERCY’. The parcels in one of the tyres of the second mower bears the inscription ‘IN GOD” and “WE TRUST’, while the third mower has ‘IJIOMA’ and ‘186.6’ inscribed on the two parcels hidden in one of its tyres. Okechukwu claimed one of his church members gave him the lawn mowers to deliver to his brother in Port Harcourt.”
He said in other operations across Zamfara, Kogi, Rivers, Kaduna and Kano state, no fewer than 37, 876 tablets of pharmaceutical opioids especially Tramadol; 10,884 bottles of codeine and 825.016 kilograms of cannabis sativa were recovered during raids in the past week.
Post a Comment