National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested Kingsley Celestino, a businessman who hid over 9.40kg of heroin. He hid it in the false bottoms of his two travelling bags at Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
Kingsley, who was a passenger in his class of business on Qatar Airways, was arrested at Terminal 2 of the MMIA on Saturday, March 4, while en route to India. This 49-year-old man was travelling on an international Guinean passport.
NDLEA Media and Advocacy Her director Femi Babafemi made this clear in a statement received by correspondents on Sunday.
Babafemi said,
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect frequently travels to India on business class tickets. He claimed he deals in the clothing business between Nigeria and India. It was further established that he obtained the Guinean international passport in Guinea Bissau, where he said his mother came from.
“In the same vein, a 24-year-old passenger travelling to Oman, Etounu Monday, was intercepted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Monday, February 27, during the outward clearance of Ethiopian Airline flight ET 950 while attempting to export 1.924kg of skunk concealed in cream tubes.”
Also, at the Tincan seaport, Lagos, the NDLEA operatives on Friday, March 3, recovered 244 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 79 kilograms concealed in medium size wooden sound system speakers packed inside two out of four used vehicles in a container marked CRSU9258348 coming from Toronto via Montreal, Canada. The imported vehicles used as cover for the drugs are a 2009 Jeep Wrangler and a 2009 Honda Ridgeline.
Similarly, the NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, attached to courier firms in Lagos intercepted a consignment of nine parcels of methamphetamine concealed in native black soap, Dudu Osun, heading to Europe.
cc: Punch Ng
