NDLEA Arrests South African Coach For Drug Trafficking

A 38-year-old South African football coach, Steven Darlugar has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos for drug trafficking.

Darlugar who is married and has one child was arrested during screening of passengers who were to board an Arik Air flight to South Africa, Punch reports.

South African coauch, Steven Darlugar

He is said to have neatly packaged the drugs which tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed 1.54 kilogrammes in a compartment but it was discovered by officials.
Upon interrogation, he confessed to the crime saying, Steven said he would have earned $6,000 if he had successfully smuggled the drug, adding that he went into drug trafficking to add to his income as the one he was earning as a coach was not enough.

He said: “I am married with a child and have lived in South Africa for about a decade. I coach a team in South Africa. I have worked very hard to attain financial freedom, but have nothing in return. This is my first time of smuggling drugs. I was under financial pressure to cope with peers. A friend introduced me to drug trafficking as a way of making quick money. They promised to pay me $6,000 to take the bag containing the drugs to South Africa.”

Confirming the incident, the NDLEA commander at the MMIA, Mr. Hamza Umar, said, Dalugar was apprehended on his way to South Africa with drugs which were concealed in a false compartment of his luggage.

He added that the suspect would be charged to court at the end of the investigation.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) was established by the promulgation of Decree Number 48 of 1989, now Act of Parliament, with the aim of exterminating illicit drug trafficking and consumption in the Nigerian society.
Since its inception, they have arrested quite a good number of drug traffickers.