•Mohammed Ibrahim Wudil Photo: Sun News Publishing

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Narcotic agents at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos on Wednesday arrested a crew member of Virgin Atlantic Airways, on flight number VS 652 with registration number G-VFIT flying to London.

The suspect, Mohammed Ibrahim Wudil, was nabbed with 1.743 kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in a black polythene bag inside a hand luggage hidden in the flight compartment.

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) told a press conference in Lagos that Ibrahim confessed to have collected the parcel from one Fowy, a Nigerian based in London, for a fee of four thousand dollars.

The air crew, who was paraded during the press conference, said he had carried drug three times, but the NDLEA disagreed.
According to Wudil, he was given a picture frame containing drugs by Fowy twice in January 2007 to deliver to a Nigerian based in London simply identified as TJ. He later had an accident and could not fly for four months.

Recently, he met with Fowy, who told him that the picture frames he gave him in January to take to London actually contained drugs and that they should discuss the terms of the trade because he wished to increase the quantity. It was then they agreed on the sum of four thousand dollars.

The narcotic agents, however, said their investigation revealed that this was actually the fifth time Wudil would be trafficking in hard drugs. According to the agency, twice he took drugs ignorantly and twice he knowingly carried drugs before he was caught the third time.

During the press conference in Ikoyi, Lagos, the Director General/Secretary of the NDLEA, Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho, told journalists, "the trend is becoming disturbing, and the agency is determined to reverse it."
He promised that investigation would be meticulously carried out to crack down on the faceless actors behind the dastardly act. He added that the aircraft had been impounded pending the outcome of investigation.

"The agency is conscious of the quality services the airline is rendering and will not detain it longer than necessary," he said.
The suspect, who is single and 34 years old, hails from Wudil town in the Wudil Local Government Area of Kano State. He has been working with Virgin Atlantic for the past five years.

Officials of the Nigerians Customs Service at the airport have also joined in the investigation to unravel other anomalies, if any.
Under the International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, any airline official or crew found with hard drugs would not only face criminal charges but also lose his/her crew licence permanently.
A source at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) pointed out that the issue would be viewed seriously, stressing that the law must run its full course.