An attempt by a passenger to smuggle 23 wraps containing $34,000 has been foiled by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Ibiteye after his arrest…on July 3 / •The cash said to have been found on Ibiteye
The suspect, Ozoh Ikenna, was arrested yesterday at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos on his way to Brazil.
The dollars were detected during screening of passengers on the Etihad Airways flight to Abu Dhabi.
The money was packed in wraps similar to narcotics and concealed in his shorts.
The NDLEA Airport Commander, Ahmadu Garba, said the arrest was facilitated by the scanning machine.
“The wraps of dollars found on Ozoh Ikenna were detected with the aid of scanning machine. We also conducted a follow-up operation where one Ogbo Emmanuel who gave Ozoh $34,000 was arrested,” Garba stated.
Investigation conducted by the Assets and Financial Investigation Directorate headed by Mrs Victoria Egbase revealed that the suspects were involved in the laundering of a substantial amount of money which was illicit drug proceeds.
Egbase said:”We were able to trace over N226,000,000 to one bank account, belonging to the second suspect, Ogbo Emmanuel. The account name is Eternal God International Limited”.
Ogbo Emmanuel hails from Umunya in the Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State. After his primary and secondary education, he travelled to Onitsha to work as an automobile parts businessman.
In 1996, he relocated to Lagos. In 2005, he left Nigeria for Gambia in search of greener pastures. While in Gambia, he travelled to Germany twice to purchase fairly used electronic equipment.
Ogbo came back to Lagos in 2008 and had been selling cosmetic products at the Trade Fair Complex, Lagos.
Ozoh, in his statement, said: “I live in Brazil since 2008. I was paid to smuggle the $34,000 to Brazil. They promised to pay me five per cent. I agreed to smuggle the money to alleviate my financial hardship. I could not swallow the wraps, so I decided to hide them in my shorts.”
Investigation also revealed that suspected drug proceeds were regularly deposited in the said bank account by members of an international drug cell that smuggles cocaine from South America to West Africa.
Findings also revealed that the cosmetic business of Ogbo Emmanuel at the Trade Fair Complex, Lagos was a mere cover-up as his sales record did not justify the large flow of money into his bank account. A Hyundai Tucson Jeep was seized as an exhibit during the raid operation.
Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said that the agency is strategically targeting criminal wealth.
“Asset forfeiture is one of the effective ways of responding to organised crime threats. We are working assiduously to trace and confiscate criminal wealth of drug syndicates. Strategic efforts are ongoing to prevent the entry of drug proceeds into legitimate economy and criminal financing,” Giade stated.
The NDLEA boss assured members of the public that in view of the overwhelming evidence linking the money to narcotics, the agency will diligently prosecute the suspects.
The Boko Haram suspect who was arrested at National Airport Management Authority (NAMA) annex in Lagos yesterday, confessed last night that he was sent along with other Boko Haram members to Lagos to bomb various parts of the city.
Suicide Bomber, Boko Haram
The physically challenged 22-year-old suspect who was caught with canisters around his neck, in his confession, told security operatives that his two other colleagues were assigned the task of bombing Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), as well as the densely populated Lagos Island and Apapa areas of the megacity.
Security source, who spoke exclusively to THISDAY, said the suspect (name withheld) had confessed that he alongside several others were recruited from Niger Republic and were trained extensively before their deployment.
He also said the plot to bomb Lagos would not be simultaneously done, a clear deviation from the planned simultaneous attacks last year March, when the sect tried to bomb various designated places across the state at the same time.
According to him, the attempt by the physically-challenged suspect was the first attempt to bomb Lagos after the twin bomb blasts in Apapa two months ago that claimed no fewer than five persons including the suicide bomber.
A security official, who spoke to THISDAY on the strict condition of anonymity, said the attempt would have been successful but for the inability of the explosives to detonate when they were supposed to.
He said: “He was caught because when he tried to set off the explosives, there was a hitch. He ran back to an obscure place to check it out and fix it.
His suspicious movement and the frustration evident on his face aroused the suspicion of security operatives attached to NAMA.”
Also speaking, another source from the state security department said already, investigations had kicked off in full gear to round up other suspects who were said to have been deployed to wreak havoc in the state.
The suspect was arrested at the NAMA annex facility, known as CENTREX, about 300 meters from the international terminal of the airport, opposite the airport cathedral.
THISDAY learnt that the suspect was making frantic phone calls, and looked frustrated and restless.
His mannerism and slovenly conduct aroused the suspicion of security personnel who were watching him and subsequently arrested him.
He was taken to the MMIA police station at Beesam junction.
Shortly after his arrest, the police had initially pleaded for more time to undertake the investigation to confirm the identity and mission of the suspect.
The police also said that the suspected explosive device found on the suspect would be examined and confirmed later, adding that it would be hasty to describe it as an explosive.
A police officer, however, described the device found on the suspect as locally made explosives.
Reacting to the incident, the General Manager, Public Affairs of NAMA, Supo Atobatele, said the suspect was within the vicinity of the airport making phone calls along the Airport Road when the agency’s security personnel accosted him.
He said his incoherent explanation aroused further suspicion, especially with the suspicious looking canisters on his person.
“The attention of NAMA has been drawn to insinuations that a suspected suicide bomber was arrested at one of the agency’s facilities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Monday.
“The basic truth however is that the said suspect was on the ground making phone calls along the Airport Road close to CENTREX, an annex office of NAMA when the agency’s security personnel accosted him.
“His incoherent explanation exposed him to the security personnel who later found on him some devices suspected to be explosives. He was subsequently handed over to the Airport Police Command for further investigation.
“The Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, in reaction, commended the security personnel for their vigilance and prompt arrest of the suspect,” Atobatele said in a statement.
The suspect who wore brown shorts and a white T-shirt was prevented from speaking to reporters about his mission to the airport.
But another policeman told THISDAY that the suspect was not willing to talk initially, having concealed his age but later said that his father was from Kano while his mother was from Cameroun and that he lived in Nasarawa quarters in Kano.
Yet, another senior security official with one of the aviation agencies told THISDAY that enquiries had revealed that the suspect was from Niger Republic, arrived Lagos on Sunday and was asking people for the location of the airport before he was arrested.
The official alleged that the suspect was on a mission and was sent by somebody, dismissing the initial statement from the police that he was a lunatic.
“I don’t think that the suspect is a lunatic. If the police say that he is a lunatic let them prove that he is one.
“From my own assessment, the suspect was on a mission; he was sent by somebody, but the police have not given us more information. I went to see him and the young man spoke both in English and in Hausa. The police said they should be given time to investigate the suspected devices, so let me give them time,” the official said.
Meanwhile, suspected Boko Haram gunmen have killed 10 people who had fled their homes to avoid the incessant attacks by the insurgents, reported AFP yesterday.
The villagers who were running from death inadvertently ran into death when they encountered the insurgents in a nearby village in Borno State.
Like drunken murderers, the insurgents opened fire on them killing all 10, witnesses said yesterday.
Residents of Krenuwa village had fled to nearby communities after Boko Haram members raided their community last month killing seven people.
The people were further terrified when they saw the extremists raze a military camp, police station and several homes.
About a dozen militants stormed the villages of Durwa and Maforo in the Marte district on Sunday, where some of the villagers were seeking refuge.
“They came on motorcycles and gathered people before singling out their victims who moved in from Krenuwa after it was attacked”, said Usman Ari, a Durwa resident.
“They shot six of them dead and slaughtered four,” said Ari, who fled to the Borno State capital, Maiduguri, some 100 kilometres away after the attack on the community.
After the attack in Durwa, the suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed nearby Maforo and killed four, said Hassan Goni, another Durwa resident, who also fled to Maiduguri.
“We are afraid they are going to come back for more attacks which is why we left,” he added.
After the attack on Krenuwa village, a counter-offensive by soldiers killed five insurgents and captured another five.
Krenuwa resident, Abba Kolomi, said Boko Haram had also killed six people from the village who sought refuge across the border in Chad.
The Marte district was one of the areas where Boko Haram chased out the government last year, forcing President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in the region and a military offensive to crush the uprising.
Although a scorched-earth military response reclaimed the territory, deadly Boko Haram raids on towns and villages in the area have continued unabated.
There was confusion at the Arrival Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Monday, as a passenger slumped and died.
Lagos airport
Sources at the airport told our correspondent that the passenger slumped in front of the Port Health Services office, while waiting to collect his vaccination card, usually known as Yellow Card.
Some staff and passengers fled the scene following the man’s collapse, as they feared he was infected with the deadly Ebola Virus Disease.
His body was covered with an orange-coloured cloth and left unattended to by the office. However, the area was barricaded to forestall people coming there, as people were redirected to pass other routes.
Our correspondent gathered that the dead man was supposed to fly to Ghana for medical check-up when he suddenly collapsed at the airport and died.
It was also gathered that the passenger, who was of middle age, may be of Ibo origin. A lady that was seen accompanying him before his sudden death was seen making calls to their relatives in Igbo language, telling them what happened.
The sad incident, which happened at the arrival floor, set fear in the spine of passengers and other airport officials that witnessed what happened.
The female relative of the dead man, who was crying, was quoted as saying, “Ceekay, please get up; Ceekay, please get up”.
Meanwhile, a statement later released by the General Manager, Corporate Communications of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. Yakubu Dati, gave the late passenger’s name as Mr. Akunne Osei.
It noted that the deceased was tested for the Ebola virus and the result later came in negative.
The statement said, “FAAN wishes to inform the public that a Nigerian passenger, residing in Accra, who arrived Lagos for business transactions aboard an Arik Air flight on Friday August 8, 2014, has died at the Murtala Mohammad Airport, Ikeja, on his way back to Accra.
“The passenger, Osei, took ill on Saturday August 9 and started stooling. When the situation got worse, he called his doctor in Accra, who instructed him to return to Ghana immediately for further treatment.
“During boarding formalities for his return trip to Accra at the international terminal of MMA, Osei, who had obviously become weak at this time, was subjected to Ebola Virus test by port health officials, the result of which was negative. No further attention was paid to him after his Ebola Virus result read negative but the passenger later slumped and died around the port health office.”
LAGOS — Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), yesterday, arrested a 34-year- old drug suspect with 1.370 kilogrammes of whitish powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The suspect, Mr. Nriagwu Augustine Ifeanyi, was apprehended during the screening of passengers on a Turkish Airline flight at the departure hall of the airport.
Speaking on the arrest, NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, Mr. Hamza Umar, noted that the suspect hid the drug and packed them in two parcels inside a laptop bag.
Umar noted that if the suspect had not been arrested at the airport, he would have proceeded to South Sudan upon arrival at Turkey.
He said: “The suspect was found with two parcels of cocaine industrially hidden by the sides of his laptop bag. He was detected on his way to Turkey from where he would have proceeded to South Sudan. The drug tested positive for cocaine and weighed 1.370kg.”
Meanwhile, Chairman of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade said that the agency would continue to engage in both drug supply and demand reduction activities towards making the country drug-free.
The stealing of passengers’ items at the Lagos International Airport is on the rise despite the complaints by the various victims and promises to recover their items which turned out to be empty promises.
A 52-year-old Germany based Nigerian, Festus Oduware Ekhator had his share of the unpleasant circumstance on the 6th of April while on his way back to his base from Nigeria.
According to Festus who spoke with NAIJA CENTER NEWS (NCN) corespondent, he arrived the airport and was asked to check in, he requested for his bag which contained his wallet but they promised the bag would be brought back to him. He finally got the bag after boarding. But he noticed that his 2500 euro, N10,000 and others were gone.
He said: ”On the 6th of Aprill, with my return ticket of Air France. With my checked – in luggage, I wanted my wallet that forgot in one of the luggage, then asked Airline staffs to help retrieved the one containing the Money and wallet. One staff called Tina then called the Baggage Handlers to get the bag out, waited for quite a while to find out, they didn’t bring back the bag. I later got it at the Gate of bording. With frantic confidence, i was made to board without access to the luggage but pressure from me forced Tina who led me to the tarmac. Gotten there, I found out that my items were missing and my Money wallet was empty. 2500 euros, 10,000 Naira and my samsung mobile telephone was stolen. I was very angry and raised alarm, everyone gathered but none paid attention to me. I asked for Airline Manager, no one cared, then ran to Airline Captain to lay my complain, group of baggage handlers forced me out of the flight. The struggles attracted Security Agent who tend to investigate the matter. I was left stranded for 4 days at the Airport.
When asked by NAIJA CENTER NEWS what he did after he realized his things were gone, he sad ”when i discovered my items had been stolen, like i said, the security agents came at the last minute. I recounted the whole episodes from counter to flight. Since there was less to do that night., the next day, i wrote a letter requesting for the video play back of the incident for better Investigation but after 3rd day before i could find out Management nonchalant Attitude to Investigation.
According to a security source at the airport who spoke with NAIJA CENTER NEWS (NCN) said Festus checked in around 9pm and requested for his bag which he said contained some personal items. But he was told to be patient as the bag will be brought to him later.
The source said: ” The man (Festus) came that day to board a flight, he had two bags, so he was told to check all his bags in. Immediately he checked the bags in, he remembered that one of the bags contained his personal things like money, phone and other things. So he was calling them, he called one of the staff, and they promised him they will get it. We were surprised that after two hours, he came around 9pm, he stayed till around 11pm when the plane was supposed to leave. They brought the bag to him at the gate of the aircraft. When he checked the bag, he found out that all the items in the bag that he was begging them to bring out were all gone.
“At that point, he became angry because he had already told them earlier that he needed the bag. The airline said they won’t allow him in, but he was begging that he was supposed to go to work the next day. The airline said it’s as if he was making noise, and that he can’t go with them anymore.
”The airline added that he did not obey the rules. The truth is that, as at that point, the man was supposed to be angry. We followed him to the airline, including different officials, the special manager, but they said the pilot had already written that his behaviour not acceptable.
”He spent about 3 days at the airport stranded before the airline called their office in Germany finally carried him. He left with Emirate instead of Air France who rejected him after his things were stolen.”
The source added that the Airport Authority intervened by begging for him to be carried and noted that his stolen items were never investigated or found. The source also said that Festus requested for video playback but he was told that the cameras at the airport do not have playbacks.
It could be recalled that several people had earlier complained of the stealing and the airport authorities nonchalant attitudes towards investigating the incidents, which almost make victims believe that it’s an organized stealing involving the bag handlers and the airport authorities.
In 2011 June, Mrs Tukunbo who arrived Lagos with Virgin Nigeria from Accra, Ghana had a related experience at the Lagos International Airport, Explaining her woes, she said ‘My luggage arrived in Lagos with the zip broken. $700 I had carefully placed at the bottom of the case was removed, along with other clothing items that had been tampered with.’
Another victim, MRs Schmidt who flew from South Africa said ”I flew with South African Airways (SAA) from Johannesburg to Lagos last week, ‘When I collected my baggage, I was shocked to discover a tear in the left side of the case and my new digital camera stolen. Somewhere between my luggage leaving the plane and coming to the conveyor belt, it had been tampered with.’ She has heard no word of the missing camera since. Incidentally, a woman on the same SAA flight with Mrs Schmidt made a similar complaint. Her mobile phone and $200 had been taken.
The concern voiced by numerous passengers lay not just in the pain of stolen items, but in the lack of response from the affected airlines. ‘I complained bitterly to the Virgin Nigeria airline staff but it’s almost a month later and nothing has happened,’ said Miss Boateng, who had local currency to the tune of $2000 stolen during her flight from Accra to Lagos. ‘The very nonchalance of their attitude makes me wonder if they are in collusion with these thieves,’ she added. Mr Gugulethu, who flew with SAA to Lagos and lost his newly purchased laptop, has a similar suspicion. ‘I believe they are working together. The spoil is equally shared, which explains the lack of action thereafter. You just fill out a form which you know will end in nothing actually happening. It’s a sad scenario and really discourages people from visiting Nigeria.’
NAIJA CENTER NEWS (NCN) also interacted with the Terminal Head of the NCAA at the airport who refused to give her name the moment she realized she was talking with a reporter on phone. She initially denied knowing about the Festus and his missing items. She alleged that she was not at the airport as at the time the incident happened.
But when asked if she was indirectly saying she is not up to the task she was assigned for, she quickly agreed to have known about the problem the next day. She alleged that she had complained to the appropriate quarter but had not received any response.
Few weeks ago, A 26 year old airport cleaner, Chibuzor Onuegbe allegedly smuggled N242 million out of the baggage store of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) undetected.
The stolen money was packed in a bag in US dollar denomination totalling $1.5million which belongs to a middle aged woman (names withheld). She was said to have deposited the sum at the MMIA baggage room on October 30, 2013 for safe keeping. She discovered that the money was missing when she wanted to pick it.
According to Festus who spoke with NAIJA CENTER NEWS (NCN) corespondent, he arrived the airport and was asked to check in, he requested for his bag which contained his wallet but they promised the bag would be brought back to him. He finally got the bag after boarding. But he noticed that his 2500 euro, N10,000 and others were gone.