The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has
uncovered a plot to use dry chicken flavored noodles to smuggle cannabis
through the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) in Enugu State on a plane
to China. According to the NDLEA spokesman, Mitchell Ofoyeju, “the cannabis was
carefully prepared inside packs of noodles to avoid detection.”
The alleged culprit, Benson Onyechi Esonwunne, was
attempting to board an Ethiopian Airways flight from Nigeria to China when he
convinced an innocent passenger to carry the box of packaged chicken flavored
noodles for him on the plane.
Mr. Ofoyeju said, “it is instructive that people be aware of
this trick because what they consider as an assistance may just send them to
prison or early graves. This is because drug trafficking is punishable by death
in China.”
The NDLEA statement also revealed that Mr. Esonwunne had
been deported from China two times prior for immigration offenses in 2008 and
on May of this year.
Mr. Esonwunne said that he began trafficking drugs because
Nigeria’s economy was so poor, and its exchange rate so unfavorable, that he
needed to turn to the illegal activity to get by.
In addition to this arrest, the NDLEA also arrested another
passenger at AIIA airport in Enugu State for ingesting 74 wraps of a substance
testing positive for cocaine. That perpetrator, also said that he began
smuggling drugs due to the poor economy, was offered $5,000 to carry out the
activity.
The NDLEA said both men will face charges for their crimes.
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