An Arik Airways staff
has told the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency investigators how members of
staff of the airline smuggle illicit drugs aboard flights.
Oliver Chibuzor,
a catering loader at the airline who has been arrested by NDLEA officials, said
they subvert airport security checks by concealing cocaine in catering
supplies.
On Monday, Chika
Udensi, a senior member of the Arik Air cabin crew, was arrested by UK Border
Force officials with 20 kilogrammes of cocaine at Heathrow Airport in London.
Mr. Udensi, an
air steward, allegedly concealed the cocaine which has an estimated street
value of N100 million, within the “construction of laptop bags,” according to
the NDLEA.
In a statement on
Thursday, the NDLEA quoted Mr. Chibuzor as telling narcotic investigators that
he was introduced into the illicit drug business by Mr. Udensi.
“Whenever Chika
gives me the drug, I will hide it in catering supplies. Chika knows where to
collect the drug inside the flight,” the agency quoted Mr. Chibuzor as stating
during interrogation by investigators.
“They pay me
N400, 000 per bag. I was expecting N1.2 million for the three bags that I
smuggled into the aircraft,” he said.
The
anti-narcotics agency said that preliminary investigation revealed that both
Messrs Udensi and Chibuzor had been infiltrated by a suspected drug cartel.
Mr. Chibuzor, who
hails from Isiala Ngwa North local government of Abia State, is a graduate of
Business Administration and was employed by Arik Air in 2009, according to the
NDLEA.
Ahmadu Giade,
NDLEA’s Chairman, said he had directed that henceforth all airport workers must
be extensively searched.
“The agency has
taken drastic measures to avert infiltration of airport workers by criminal
syndicates,” Mr. Giade said.
“Airline
officials and airport workers shall be subjected to comprehensive search. The
NDLEA will resist any act capable of undermining security at all entry and exit
points,” he said.
Mr. Giade also
said that all catering trucks, luggage trucks, aviation fuel tankers, machines
and personnel whose duty directly or indirectly relates to tarmac and flight
operations would be subjected to full screening.
As part of its
investigation, the NDLEA said its operatives had searched the rented apartment
of Mr. Udensi in Ejigbo, a Lagos suburb, where he lives with his mother and
siblings. His wife and children are based in Canada.
The NDLEA also
said that Mr. Udensi’s Range Rover car, which had been impounded and was parked
at the airline’s premises, had been moved to the agency’s office as exhibit.