32-yr-old miner arrested with N2.7bn cocaine at Abuja airport

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 32-year-old drug trafficker, Maduabuchi Chinedu, with 9.30 kilograms of cocaine worth over N2.7 billion in street value.

Chinedu, a drug trafficker based in Liberia, was arrested on Wednesday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

The suspect who hails from Obaha Okigwe village, Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo State, lives in Liberia where he works as a miner.

NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said Chinedu was arrested during an inward joint search of Ethiopian Airlines flight 911 at the Abuja airport on Wednesday 24th November 2021 with 9.30kg cocaine with each pellet wrapped in candies wraps and concealed in his luggage.

During his preliminary interview, Chinedu claimed he left Nigeria in 2018 to settle in Liberia where he now has a residence permit.

He, however, added that economic pressure and the need to raise money to treat his mother for an eye problem led him to seek help from a friend in Liberia who introduced him to another friend based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia who eventually gave him the drug to deliver in Abuja for a fee of N1 million.

He added that he was initially scheduled to deliver the drug in Ivory Coast but was rerouted to Nigeria at the last minute.

While commending the officers and men of the NAIA Command of the Agency for their vigilance and working in synergy with other security agencies at the airport, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) charged them and their colleagues in other commands to always remain two steps ahead of merchants of death who are daily getting more desperate to make money at the expense of the image of the country and Nigerians’ wellbeing.