NDLEA arrests ex-councillor over drug trafficking

Shola Adekola,Lagos - 26.03.2008

Attempt by a former councillor, Eta James Omojuwa, to raise money from illicit drug trafficking has met a brick wall with his arrest by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on Monday.

Other suspects arrested are Obiaku Peter and Atewe Oge Rawlings. Eta James (40) was arrested at about 9.00 a.m. during the screening of passengers on Virgin Atlantic flight to London . The diploma holder in Applied Economics at the University of Calabar ingested 84 wraps of substances that tested positive to cocaine.

The suspected drug trafficker confessed to have invested N1 million in buying the cocaine, having been told by a Jamaican woman during his previous visit to London that there was much profit in the business.

He told the officers that he was once a supervisory councillor for Agriculture, Finance and Health at the Sapele Local Government Council from 2003 to 2007.

He resides at No. 40 Yoruba Road, Sapele, his home town. Obiaku Peter was arrested at the central screening point of the airport on Sunday at about 8.00 p.m. during the boarding of Air France to Vienna .