LAGOS, April 11 — Nigeria’s anti-drug agency on Sunday announced the seizure of 13.2 kilograms of cocaine at the Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport, the country’s economic hub.
More than 100 parcels of the illicit drug were brought into the country by a 52-year-old suspect who returned from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Doha, aboard a Qatar Airways flight, said Femi Babafemi, spokesperson for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in a statement.
The suspect was arrested on Saturday at the arrival hall of the Lagos airport, while the 101 parcels of the class-A drug, with a gross weight of 13.2 kilograms, were recovered from his only check-in bag, the spokesman said.
During preliminary questioning, the suspect confessed he was to be paid 5 million nairas (about 1.2 million U.S. dollars) for trafficking the drug after successfully delivering the consignment in Lagos, Babafemi said.
The most populous African country has been troubled by cross-border drug trafficking, with frequent reports of seizure of illicit drugs and arrests of suspects at its major airports. (Xinhua)
