NDLEA alerts public on new foreign travel scam

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has alerted members of the public, especially those who have loved ones abroad, to a new scheme by scammers who impersonate NDLEA officers.

The spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Saturday in Abuja said the scammers call unsuspecting citizens to inform them of the arrest of their relatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos or any other international airport in Nigeria with illicit drugs upon arrival in the country.

“After throwing the family members into panic, the scammers then make a demand of millions of naira to facilitate the release of such persons from NDLEA custody,” he said.

“We have thwarted a number of such bids in the past when the family members called the agency’s official contacts for help or clarification.”

He also denied the involvement of the agency’s officers in the latest incident where an audio of a purported officer negotiating a N5m with a female relative for the release of a US-based man said to have been arrested at the Murtala Mohammed

International Airport in Lagos airport on March 22 upon arrival with a ‘contraband’.

“The family members involved in this case are advised not to part with their hard-earned money to scammers. Nigerians with loved ones abroad are also urged to keep discussions on travel plans of their relatives to themselves to avoid the hijack of such by criminal elements for devious schemes,” he said.

He also said that those who may have a similar challenge should be free to call any of the agency’s contact lines: +2347064670026 and +2348033326327.