The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested Greene Da’monte Khiree, an American professional basketball player, over a 33.95kg shipment of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, from Thailand.
The NDLEA said in a statement on Sunday by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, that operatives arrested Mr Khiree on November 11 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
Mr Babafemi said Mr Khiree, 28, was intercepted at the airport upon arrival in Lagos on an Emirates Airline flight from Thailand via Dubai.
“The suspect, who was placed under discreet surveillance upon arrival, was observed abandoning his two checked-in bags before attempting to exit the airport with only his carry-on luggage. He was promptly apprehended at the airport car park,” Mr Babafemi said.
He said authorities found a tracking device and 16 parcels of Loud in each of his two abandoned bags, totalling 32, with a combined weight of 33.95 kilogrammes.
“A forensic examination of his mobile phone revealed information pointing to his knowledge of and involvement in the drug trafficking activity,” Mr Babafemi added.
Operatives also arrested Chinedu Onwude, a 56-year-old Nigerian who has lived in South Africa, in Ikeja, Lagos, on November 11, over an alleged attempt to traffic 25.05 kilogrammes of methamphetamine concealed in packs of assorted breakfast cereals imported from South Africa.
Mr Babafemi said the suspect was intercepted on Wednesday and that he had been living in South Africa for over two decades under a stolen identity.
Mr Babafemi said a thorough search of his two travelling boxes led to the recovery of twenty-five parcels of a white crystalline substance, which tested positive for methamphetamine with a total weight of 25.05kg.
“The parcels had been carefully concealed inside packs of assorted breakfast cereals and cereal-based food products in a bid to beat security screening,” he noted.
According to him, the 56-year-old suspect holds both Nigerian and South African passports and has been resident in South Africa for over 24 years.
Mr Babafemi said that during a preliminary interview, he confessed he adopted the name Omokan Isaac Babatope after using forged documents to enter South Africa and has used that identity ever since.
He further stated that a South Africa-based man, Obiora Okoye, contracted him to deliver the illicit consignment in Nigeria for a fee of twenty thousand South African rand (R20,000).
