NDLEA uncover £3.8M worth of cocaine inside shoes

Parcels of cocaine weighing 9.15kg and valued at £3.8million have been uncovered by mend of the NDLEA in a shipment of shoes aboard a Turkish airline flight.

According to a report by Tribune Newspaper, the officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) uncovered the whitish substance that tested positive to cocaine inside soles of shoes at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

It was further reported that the discovery was made in a shipment of shoes, during inward screening of passengers on the flight.

The seizure of the cocaine, which was industrially concealed in the soles of new foot wears, has been described as one of the benefits of training by the Chairman of the NDLEA, Colonel Muhammad Abdallah.

Abdallah said: “The seizure is a validation of enhanced capacity of officers due to series of training programmes carried out by the agency. The training covering investigation, raid operations as well as prosecution was conducted with the assistance of the United States government, European Union (EU) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This is just a tip of the iceberg because as the benefits of these training begin to manifest, more drugs shall be detected and cartels dislodged in the days ahead.”

Speaking further, Abdallah said that the huge profit derived from drug trafficking has made it a top priority for drug cartels to be financially incapacitated.

“We must continue to take deliberate steps to intercept drugs and ultimately prevent the criminal enrichment of drug cartels. Illicit drug proceeds negatively affect economic development, could be used to corrupt government officials and terrorism funding thereby subjecting mankind to widespread destruction,” Abdallah stated.