NDLEA seize N4.4billion worth cocaine concealed in Ethiopian aircraft lavatories

The bid by members of an international drug syndicate that operates between Brazil, Ethiopia and Nigeria to smuggle into Lagos a total of 845 wraps of cocaine weighing 18.72 kilograms has been thwarted and the consignments recovered by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja.

A statement released on Sunday, November 3 by NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, says the drug consignments worth Four Billion Four Hundred and Ninety-Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,492,800,000) in street value were recovered from two lavatories of an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft during the post landing cleaning of the cabin of flight ET900 from Addis Ababa to Lagos on Tuesday 29th October 2024.

The illicit drug consignments were wrapped in nine polythene bags and hidden in the waste collectors in the two rear lavatories of the aircraft, from where they were recovered after the MMIA Strategic Command of NDLEA was alerted about the strange objects. No fewer than 30 suspects have so far been grilled in connection with the seizure.

Investigations revealed that the seized drugs were conveyed from Brazil to Ethiopia through ingestion and excreted in Addis Ababa by a set of couriers while some other traffickers picked them up and attempted to smuggle them into Nigeria through the Lagos airport before their attempt was frustrated with the cooperation of the airline’s authorities and other airport stakeholders.

In the same vein, attempts by some drug trafficking syndicates to export 2.928kg cocaine, cannabis and tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream containers, and pieces of art work to Australia, United Arab Emirate and United Kingdom through some courier companies in Lagos were also blocked by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, DOGI, on Monday 28th October.