NDLEA Nabs Italy-Based Businessman with 98 Cocaine Wraps at Enugu Airport

In a major breakthrough, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a 30-year-old Italy-based businessman, Joseph Cyril, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu. The arrest occurred on Sunday, August 2nd, as Cyril was preparing to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Italy via Addis Ababa and France. Upon his arrest, he was placed under observation, during which he excreted a staggering 98 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.510 kilograms. According to investigations, Cyril had arrived in Nigeria from Italy on July 13th and ingested the cocaine at a hotel in Awka, Anambra State, before heading to Enugu to catch his flight. In a statement, Cyril revealed that he had been operating a business in Italy for several years but decided to traffic the cocaine for a fee of 3,500 Euros to raise funds to relocate to Germany, where his family resides. In a separate incident, NDLEA operatives foiled an attempt to smuggle 25 phone chargers containing cocaine to Saudi Arabia at a courier firm in Lagos. Additionally, the agency intercepted 500 grams of cocaine hidden in a backpack at a logistics company, as well as 2.3 kilograms of Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain, in a shipping company, all within the span of a few days.