NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi said, in a statement on Thursday, that the suspect works in Liberia as a miner.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a suspected 32-year-old drug trafficker, Maduabuchi Chinedu who is based in Liberia.
Chinedu was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja with 9.3 kilogrammes of cocaine worth over N2.7 billion in street value.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi said, in a statement on Thursday, that the suspect works in Liberia as a miner.
Babafemid said, “He 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 said Chinedu also confessed that he was initially scheduled to deliver the drug in Ivory Coast but was rerouted to Nigeria because of last-minute changes.