Ojukwu’s Niece Among 5 Arrested For Smuggling Cocaine From Brazil

Five people have been arrested and an operative
of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
(NDLEA) is believed to be under investigation
over allegations of conspiring to import cocaine
from Brazil.
NDLEA staff Ali Baba Adamu began facing
investigation after luggage abandoned at Murtala
Mohammed International Airport, Lagos was
found to contained more than two kilos of
cocaine.
Four others facing interrogation include Ijeoma
Ojukwu, a niece to late Chief Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu, and three others Victor
Umeh, Uche Igwelo and Egbuche Fidelis Osiita.
Chief executive of NDLEA, Roli Bode-George,
said the agency was “following every lead
professionally and will exploit more opportunities
towards getting every culprit arrested.
“We have also expanded the scope of our
investigation and everyone involved in this illegal
importation of narcotics shall be diligently
prosecuted. The Agency will continue to uphold
the rule of law and dislodge drug trafficking
organisations in the country,” Roli stated.
First seizure
The cocaine seized at the Lagos airport is the
first this year, said Ahmadu Garba, the agency’s
commander at the airport.
The luggage, tagged for Agina Fidelis Ejike, was
abandoned at the arrival hall during inward
screening of passengers on an Emirates flight on
December 28.
“On January 1, 2016, one Egbuche Fidelis Osita
came with authority letter mandating him to
collect the bag. In the process, some white
powdery substance weighing 2.24kg that tested
positive for cocaine was discovered,” said Garba.
“The drug was neatly packed in four parcels
concealed in false bottom of four female
handbags.”
Level of culpability
NDLEA says its preliminary investigations
indicate Ijeoma Ojukwu, 48 and a mother of
three, runs a restaurant in Brazil and is
suspected to be a member of an international
drug trafficking operation.
She is alleged to have conspired to collect the
abandoned luggage from the airport in hopes of
retrieving the cocaine before she was arrested.
Officials also impounded an Acura MDX said to
have been driven to the airport by the suspects.
But Ojukwu has stated, “My brother came from
Brazil and could not find his bag. It was in the
process of trying to get the bag out that we
were arrested.”
Uche Igwelo, 36, a public administration graduate,
said she was invited by Ijeoma to assist in
collecting the bag.
“I sell kitchen utensil and I am married with a
child. Ijeoma met me that I should help him to
collect a bag at the airport. We were trying to
get the bag when NDLEA officers arrested us,”
Uche, an Anambra native told investigators,
according to an official statement from NDLEA.
Egbuche Fidelis Osita, a 37-year-old student said
that he was asked to collect the bag. “I am a
400 level student studying English Education at
the Ekiti State University. My friend Victor Umeh
was the person that asked me to help in
claiming a luggage at the airport.
“We all drove to the airport where I was given a
letter of authority and other documents of the
passenger that came with the luggage. In the
process of trying to collect the bag I was
arrested. This is all I know about this incident,”
Osita said.