The NDLEA opeartives on Tuesday night stormed the headquarters of Arik Air in Ikeja Lagos following the arrest in London of a crew member of the airline for allegedly being in possession of cocaine.
The Arik crew member, identified by the anti-narcotics agency, NDLEA as Chika Egwu Udensi, was arrested on Monday night by operatives of the UK Border Force with 20kg of Cocaine at the London Heathrow Airport shortly after an Arik Air flight W3101 that departed from the MMIA, Lagos, touched down in the UK.
On Tuesday night, operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) stormed the headquarters of Arik Air in Ikeja Lagos to search Udensi’s latest Range Rover parked on the airline’s premises.
The Arik Air on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of its cabin crew member by the UK Border Force. In a statement, the airline's spokesman, Adebanji Ola, said it had commenced investigation into how the banned substance got into the suspect’s possession.
"A member of Arik Air cabin crew was on Monday night arrested at the Heathrow Airport, London, by the UK Border Force in connection with alleged possession of item suspected to be a banned substance.
The airline is presently carrying out its private investigation to determine how the cabin crew member came about the suspected banned substance.
Arik Air will also be cooperating fully with the UK authorities and other appropriate agencies in their investigations," part of the statement read.
Udensi’s arrest came barely two years after two crew members of the Arik Air were similarly nabbed by the UK Border Force in London with cocaine worth £600,000 on the street. The street value of the drug found with Udensi is £350,000 (N105m).
In December 2011, another Arik Air cabin crew, Ms. Chinwendu Uwakaonyenma Ogbonnaya, was similarly arrested in London for drug trafficking. She was subsequently jailed for 5 years in London.