Cocaine: NDLEA goes after Udensi’s family, friends

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has extended its searchlight on friends and family members of Arik Air flight attendant, Chika Egwu Udensi, who was recently arrested with cocaine in London. Daily Trust gathered that the decision of the agency to extend its dragnet followed the arrest of Udensi’s younger brother, Uwachi Amos Udensi.

NDLEA operatives had on Friday obtained a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of how Arik Air support staffer, Ikechukwu Chibuzor Oliver, who worked as a catering loader, smuggled three bags of cocaine among food supplies for flight W310 before its departure for London. He admitted that he was promised N1.2 million by the older Udensi to smuggle the drug into the aircraft.

Investigations by

Daily Trust showed that until his arrest, Udensi was a senior crew member employed in 2007. He was said to have flown local routes until Arik Air was licensed to fly the London route.

Presently, a ring of suspects allegedly involved in the drug cartel have been pencilled down by the agency. It was gathered that efforts are in progress to locate them.

“It has been established that Chika Udensi is a mere courier for kingpins. It has also been established that the principal suspect was contacted during one of his trips abroad”, an NDLEA source said. Agency spokesman, Mitchel Ofoyeju, told Daily Trust that they had also invited Udensi’s younger brother, Uwachi, 32, for questioning, while three exotic jeeps belonging to the principal suspect have been impounded. The vehicles include a Land Rover, an Equinox Chevrolet and a Dodge Hemi Magnum.