Following the interception of their shipment of methamphetamine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos, drug kingpins Eyah Celestine Nnamdi, alias Murphy, and Ugwuoke Peter Oluchukwu, both of whom are based in Qatar, have been taken into custody by members of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
According to a statement issued by the agency's spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, Ugwuoke was the first person arrested on June 9 while Qatar Airways passengers were being cleared out of Terminal 2 at the Lagos airport's departure point.
The suspect was traveling to Doha with an international Ivorian passport bearing the name Hien Narcisse, according to NDLEA officers. Further examination of his black carry-on luggage revealed two parcels of crystalline substance with false bottoms that weighed 1.00 kilograms and tested positive for methamphetamine. According to Babafemi, the suspect is a Nigerian who had gone to obtain an Ivorian passport for his travels, as revealed by the preliminary investigation.
He admitted that he went to Qatar in August 2022 and came back about two months later to make arrangements for the drug shipment's movement.
A second investigation led investigators to the discovery that Murphy, his senior business partner based in Qatar, was lurking in Eziani, his hometown in Nsukka LGA, Enugu State. Ugwuoke, who is from the state's Igboeze North Local Government Area, claims to have graduated from the Federal Polytechnic Oko with a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering. He said Babafemi added that "Murphy," whose true identity was later discovered to be Eyah Celestine Nnamdi, who had lived in Indonesia for some years before relocating to Doha, Qatar, was arrested thanks to the prompt deployment of NDLEA personnel to the Eziani community of the Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State on June 10.
Watch the video below:
Qatar-based drug kingpins, Eyah Celestine Nnamdi, alias Murphy and Ugwuoke Peter Oluchukwu have been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA at Muritala International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos. pic.twitter.com/sXXQqzuB7J
— Khris TV (@KhrisTV_) June 18, 2023
: The NDLEA discovers a travel bag containing illegal drugs){kind=link}