Luck ran out on Maduagwu Nnaemeka Charles (28) when operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) arrested him with 3 kilo grammes high-grade pure cocaine worth about N81 million.
Ambrose Umoru, NDLEA Commander in-charge of MAKIA, said the illicit substance was so raw and dangerous that when diluted, it could multiply into 9kg.
According to him, Charles was arrested during screening of passengers of Egypt Air Flight No. MS 879, “the suspect had boarded Ethiopian Airline flight No. ET 507 from Sao Paulo-Brazil and transited to Cairo, Egypt before arriving Kano via the Egypt Airline before luck ran out on him.”
The suspect during a chat with journalists admitted to have been in possession of two loud speakers where the Cocaine was neatly concealed, but denied knowledge of the dangerous substance.
According to him, the loud speakers belong to a “stranger” whom he met at the airport and offered to help him bring them down to Nigeria, “yes I was caught with 3 kg of Cocaine but I didn’t know what I was carrying.
“I met somebody who identified himself as a Nigerian in Egypt. When I was making call, he discovered I was traveling to Nigeria and he pleaded with me to assist him deliver the loud speakers to somebody here in Kano.
“He gave me an MTN Sim card and asked me to activate it once I got to Nigeria so that the owner of the loud speakers would call me for his property, but little did I know that Cocaine was concealed inside the loud speakers. I don’t even know the owner, I was just trying to help,” he lamented.
Charles who hails from Imo state said he had lived in Brazil for a year and six months, “all this while, I have engaged in menial jobs. The last job I got before leaving for Nigeria was in a lorry park where I load trucks. These menial jobs have been sustaining me; I don’t know how I got myself into this mess.”
The high-grade pure cocaine, according to Umoru was neatly factory-sealed in the body-hollow of two music loud speakers brought by the suspect which he said is a new mode of concealment by drug merchants. The suspect, he said is now in the custody of the agency while preliminary investigation continue, the agency will then charge him to court.
“Let me assure the general public, and warn drug barons and carriers that the agency will continue to discover their new modus operandi as MAKIA is a no-go area and any drug carrier that attempts to use the airport will be promptly arrested.”