Man Arerested With $34,000 In His Boxers At MMIA

A man has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), for trying to smuggle out 23 wraps containing $34,000 (over six million naira) to Brazil.

The man, Ozoh Ikenna, was arrested on Friday, October 9, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

Daily Post reports that the arrest was made during the screening of passengers boarding Etihad Airways flight to Abu Dhabi.

Mitchell Ofoyeju spokesperson for the NDLEA, confirmed the arrest. Ofoyeju said the money was packed in wraps and concealed in Ikenna’s boxer shorts.

Ahmadu Garba, the NDLEA airport commander, said the arrest was facilitated with the aid of a scanning machine.

“The wraps of dollars found on Ikenna were detected with the aid of scanning machine.

“We also conducted a follow-up operation where one Ogbo Emmanuel, who gave Ozoh the $34,000 was arrested,” Garba said.

Investigation reveal that the suspects were involved in the laundering of substantial amount of illicit drug proceeds.

The NDLEA was able to trace over N226 million lodged in one bank account belonging to the second suspect, Ogbo Emmanuel.

According to Garba, the account which is named “Eternal God International Limited”, was where the drug proceeds were regularly deposited.

The NDLEA commander said the arrest of Ikenna and Ogbo would go a long way in helping the agency take down an international drug cartel that smuggles cocaine from South America to West Africa.

Meanwhile, the NDLEA officials have apprehended a special money laundering syndicate that deals in swallowing dollars.

The Nation reports that the group made up of six members were apprehended for reportedly swallowing $156,000 (N31.1 million).

Ahmadu Giade, the NDLEA chief executive, has said that the agency will continue to track down smuggled narcotics and currency in Nigeria.

Commenting on the arrest of the special laundering syndicate, Giade said: “The agency will continue to rely on manpower training and intelligence-led drug control strategies to outwit criminal syndicates. We shall take reasonable measures to dislodge drug cartels and eradicate narcotics from our society.”