Brazil based passenger, Uba Samuel has been arrested with cocaine concealed in his footwear and toothpaste tube at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA.
He was arrested by operatives of NDLEA on Friday 15th April on arrival aboard Ethiopian Airline flight from Sao Paulo via Addis Ababa Lagos with sachets of cocaine weighing 633grams
A statement by NDLEA spokesperson said Samuel UBA claimed to be a shoemaker and barber who hails from Umunneochi, Abia state.
While accepting ownership of the drug, he said he used his shoe making knowledge to conceal the drug in his pair of sandals. Uba who is a regular traveller confessed he bought the drug to sell at a market in Abia.
Meanwhile, more illicit substances were recovered in raid operations in other parts of the country.
In Gadaka village of Fika LGA, Yobe state, operatives arrested one Hassan Usman with a total of 22, 110 tablets of Tramadol, D5 and Exol 5, while one Ali Mohammed was nabbed in a commercial vehicle coming from Kano to Maiduguri with 40 blocks of cannabis weighing 33kg.
Also arrested on the Kano-Maiduguri route was a driver Ibrahim Khalil Idris with 60 packets of Tramadol, all on Tuesday 12th April.
In Kogi state, 750 blocks of Cannabis weighing 750kg were seized from two suspects: Hassan Adamu, 25, and Abdulmalik Abdullahi, 24, along Okene-Abuja highway.
The drug exhibits were concealed inside fabricated panels of a Ford bus.
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the officers and men of the PHIA, NAIA, MMIA, Yobe, and Kogi Commands of the Agency for disrupting desperate attempts by drug cartels to traffic dangerous drugs into Nigeria and across the country.
He said the huge seizures at the airports will send a strong message to drug barons that Nigeria will no longer be their safe destination or transit route.
