Nigerian woman arrested with cocaine worth N75m at airport in India

A Nigerian woman was arrested by customs officials at the international airport for allegedly smuggling into the country cocaine worth ₹ 82 crore, (N75m).

This was according to an official statement issued on Thursday, February 1, 2024.

The accused was intercepted after she arrived from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) on Tuesday.

Sharing a video on Thursday, Asian News International wrote, “Based on specific intelligence, Customs at IGI Airport has arrested one Nigerian passenger who arrived from Addis Ababa having concealed cocaine weighing 5.88kg valued at Rs 82.448 crores in her bags. The drug has been seized under the NDPS Act, 1985. Investigations are underway: Customs”

According to the statement, during an extensive inspection of the luggage, officials discovered concealed material inside two blue trolley bags carried by the passenger. Subsequent detailed examination of the bags revealed a total of 5.8 kg of a white powdery substance suspected to be narcotics.

On being subjected to a diagnostic test, prime facie it appears to contain a commercial quantity of cocaine, having an international value of ₹ 82.446 crore { N75m}, the statement said.

Meanwhile, a lawyer, Barrister Mike Ikegbunam, has been arraigned before the Federal High Court in Enugu on charges of money laundering and obtaining N91 million by false pretence.

The Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 arraigned Ikegbunam before Justice Mohammed Garba Umar.

Ikegbunam is facing seven counts of money laundering and obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of N91,000,000.00.

He allegedly defrauded the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) by promising to secure 130 plots of land for its members at Umuagu, Ozu Ndiukwuanu Town, in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

EFCC in a statement said its investigations revealed that the defendant, who had refunded N10,000,000.00 to the association, used N16,500,000, which was suspected to be part of the money, to purchase three plots of land for himself at Dubai Estate, Phase 2 in Awka, Anambra state.

“That you, Mike Ikegbunam on 16th August, 2022 in Umuagu Ozu Village, Anambra State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria with intent to defraud, induced the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Associated Institutions of Nigeria to deliver to you, the sum of N25,000,000.00 (Twenty-Five Million naira) under the pretence that you are capable of acquiring some portions of land for their members at Umuagu Ndiukwuanu Town in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1 (1) (a) of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act,” One of the counts reads.

Ikegbunam,however, pleaded “not guilty” when the charges were read to him, while the counsel to the EFCC, Nuradeen Shehu Ingawa, prayed to the court for a trial date and for the defendant to be remanded at the Correctional Centre.

The defence counsel, A. G. Anyigo, prayed the court to admit his client to bail, adding that “the defendant is a very responsible personality in society,” while Ingawa opposed the bail application based on the gravity of the offence and urged the court to dismiss the bail application.

Justice Umar, in his ruling, granted the defendant bail on self-recognizance as a legal practitioner under the following conditions.

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