Press Release
NDLEA Nabs Two Drug Pushers At Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport
NDLEA goes tougher on Drug Traffickers
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has signaled its resolve to hold down any Airline from take-off on grounds of reasonable suspicion for illicit drugs. This followed the arrest of a suspected drug courier, Harriet Bolatito Solabi at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja with substances suspected to be prohibited drugs while on board a flight. Solabi was intercepted with a total of 5.5 kilogrammes of the illicit substances.
- She was recalled after she had checked in two giant bags said tohave contained personal effects and had boarded an Ethiopian Airline flight No.910 to Addis Ababa while awaiting take-off. The drugs were concealed in the false bottom of the bags.
- ` The flight was held down from take-off until all the personal effectsof Solabi were evacuate for security and investigation purposes, an action that is consistent with Aviation Policy.
- Solabi, aged 34, has travelled severally to South Africa without hitchesuntil her arrest on her way to Johannesburg, South Africa with 3.9 kilogrammes of Ephedrine and1.6 kilogrammes of Methamphetamine.
- A single mother of a ten-year old daughter who holds a HigherNational Diploma from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Solabi claimed to be a trader in fabrics which she normally travelled to South Africa to bring to Nigeria and distribute to her customers. Resident In Abaranje-Ikotun, Lagos, She claimed ignorant of the content of the bags which she was requested by her contact in Pretoria, South Africa to collect from an unknown person in Lagos. She had arrived Abuja from Lagos on a local flight for an onward flight to Johannesburg.
- Victor Chukwu, aged 44 and a primary school drop-out was also arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, upon arrival from Malawi with 59 wraps of Heroin weighing 865 grams which he had ingested. According to him, a black woman met him in a restaurant in Malawi and talked him into bringing the illicit substance to Nigeria. He was to call her upon arrival in Nigeria before a recipient would be directed to him. He said he had knowledge of the illicit substance but that he has been unemployed for years and to feed his family has been a problem. “Under my condition, I have to do anything that come my way to survive”, Chukwu said. He hails from Ata-Orlu, Imo State and married with a child.
- According to Lawan Hamisu, Commander of NDLEA Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, recent seizures by the Command have showed South and East Africa route becoming more attractive to West African Drug Trafficking Organisations, with Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania featuring prominently as source of transiting Heroin from Pakistan to Nigeria with Ethiopian Airline as most preferred by these criminals.
- NDLEA at the Abuja Airport has in the last three months intercepted 26 kilogrammes of illicit drugs consisting of Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine and Ephedrine through Ethiopian Airline alone with almost 50 per cent of the seizures going to South Africa.
Jonah Achema, ACN
Principal Staff Officer, Public Affairs
