Photos: Two men arrested for drug trafficking at Lagos airport

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two men namely Roland Tochukwu(37) and Maduka Nnemeka Peter(39), both from Anambra state, for possession of banned substances at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos yesterday March 23rd.


A statement released and signed by the NDLEA spokesperson, Mitchell Ofoyeju, says Tochukwu was arrested with 2.045 kg of heroin which he imported from Kenya. Ofoyeju says the suspect carried a fake ticket that stated he was traveling from China.

“Preliminary investigation by the anti-narcotic agency revealed that Tochukwu deliberately replaced his ticket with a fake one showing that he was coming from China instead of Nairobi. This was intended to place him on a low risk profile, but his expectations were dashed as the heroin concealed inside his luggage was detected during a screening of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight.” The other suspect, Maduka Nnemeka Peter, was apprehended with 1.555kg of cocaine which he was atempting to traffick to Dubai from Lagos.

“Heroin weighing 2.045kg was found inside the luggage of Tochukwu while Maduka also concealed 1.555kg of cocaine in his luggage on his way to Dubai on an Etihad flight,” he said. When interrogated, Tochukwu who claims to be a trader in Onitsha and married with three children, said he was introduced to the illicit business by his friend. “This was the plan of my friend who introduced me into drug trafficking. I sell clothes in Onitsha, but my business is as good as dead due to the economic recession. My friend that I contacted for financial assistance requested that I bring a bag containing heroin from Nairobi. The fake ticket was the plan of my friend who assured me that I will never be caught.”

Also when interrogated, the other suspect, Nnemeka, said he is a married man with two children. He says he ventured into drug trafficking because of his current poor financial state. According to him, he was promised to be paid N200,000 if he successfully trafficked the drug to Dubai. Both men would soon be charged to court.