A former Nigerian footballer, Okafor Emmanuel Junior, has been arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos for alleged drug trafficking.
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Okafor was arrested on his arrival from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on board an Ethiopian airlines flight with 1.40kg of crack cocaine concealed in his bags.
The revelation was made by the agency in a statement signed by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy NDLEA Headquarters Abuja and posted on its Twitter handle on Sunday.
The agency said the 33-year-old indigene of Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State was arrested on Monday, September 26, 2022, after anti-narcotics officers discovered he concealed the illicit substance in the handles of his bags and padded the top edges of same with the class A drug.
Okafor, during a preliminary interview, said that he was an ex-footballer with the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH Enugu FC, where he played for four seasons before leaving for Sri Lanka in 2014.
He reportedly said he moved to Brazil from Sri Lanka after playing for two seasons but could not advance his football career in Brazil due lack of official documents.
In a similar development, another Brazilian returnee, Ibeh Chinedu Damian was arrested on the same day upon his arrival at the Lagos airport from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Ethiopian airlines flight. Ibeh who hails from Ahiazu, Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, was found to have concealed 3.20kg of black cocaine popularly known as ‘Lucci’ in the false bottoms of his two bags.
In his statement, he said he was to be paid three million, and one hundred thousand naira (N3,100,000) on the successful delivery of the drug in Nigeria.
In the same vein, an attempt by a 32-year-old businesswoman, Mrs. Pamela Odin to traffic 2.150kg tablets of Rohypnol through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja to Istanbul, Turkey has been thwarted by NDLEA operatives. She was arrested on Friday, September 23 while attempting to board a Turkish airline flight with the drug concealed inside the pepper and packed among foodstuff.
The indigene of Afiesere village, Ughelli North Local Government, Delta State said she operates a restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey but came to Nigeria to see her relatives and buy food items for her business.
Meanwhile, two Malians: Mohammed Demoele, 38 and Coulibaly Maliki, 56, have been arrested by officers of the Marine Unit of NDLEA at Ebute Ero jetty in Lagos for attempting to export 34.2kg bottles of new psychoactive substance, Akuskura to Mali through Cotonou, Benin Republic
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