Cocaine Worth IDR 44.4 Billion Confiscated From Passengers At Nigeria's Lagos Airport

UNSPLASH/Colin Davis ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Nigerian authorities confiscated 19.4 kg of cocaine worth 4.66 billion naira (2.93 million US dollars/equivalent to Rp44.4 billion) from a passenger who arrived at Lagos airport on a flight from Ethiopia.

The National Narcotics Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it arrested a 48-year-old Nigerian businessman, who was convicted of human trafficking last year but paid a fine to avoid a prison sentence, on September 18. He is suspected of carrying 817 packs of cocaine.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country of more than 200 million, has in recent years changed from a transit point for gangs transporting drugs between South America and Europe to massive consumers and distributors.

"This agency will continue to try to disrupt the activities of drug cartels operating in the country," said NDLEA chairman Mohammed Buba Marwa.