The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has issued a cautionary notice regarding a recent fraudulent activity perpetrated by individuals posing as NDLEA officers targeting citizens with relatives abroad.
Femi Babafemi, the Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA, conveyed the alert through an official statement released on Saturday. According to the statement, the scammers typically contact unsuspecting individuals, claiming to have arrested their relatives at international airports in Nigeria, especially at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, for smuggling illicit drugs into the country.
Exploiting the ensuing panic among family members, these impostors demand hefty sums of money, often in millions of naira, as payment for the release of the purported detainees from NDLEA custody.
The statement emphasized, “We have foiled several such attempts in the past, as concerned family members reached out to the agency’s official channels for assistance or verification.”
Currently, an ongoing investigation involves the circulation of a Nigerian man’s photo along with an audio clip purportedly featuring an NDLEA officer negotiating a 5 million naira payment with a female relative for the release of the man allegedly apprehended at the Lagos airport on March 22nd.
The agency clarified that no NDLEA officer was involved in the mentioned audio conversation, and the individual depicted in the circulated photo is not in NDLEA’s custody at MMIA or any of its commands.
NDLEA urged affected family members not to fall victim to these scams and advised Nigerians with relatives abroad to exercise caution and refrain from discussing travel plans openly to prevent such information from being exploited by fraudulent elements.
The statement concluded by encouraging individuals facing similar challenges to seek assistance or clarification through official NDLEA contact lines.
Source: Channels Television (https://www.channelstv.com/author/donatus/)
