A commercial bus driver in Lagos narrowly escaped prosecution after the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency discovered cocaine and methamphetamine concealed inside an energy drink bottle he was transporting to Ondo State.
The NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a post on his X account on Sunday.
According to Babafemi, the driver had accepted the bottle as a waybill package, believing it contained an energy drink.
However, NDLEA operatives later discovered that the bottle had been used to conceal the illicit drugs.
Babafemi said the driver was taken into custody and could have faced imprisonment if investigators had been unable to establish how he came into possession of the package.
He explained that the driver was eventually spared after the agency traced and arrested the individual who handed the parcel to him.
Babafemi warned commercial drivers and other parcel handlers against transporting packages without first confirming their contents.
He said, “Please avoid taking parcels you don’t know its content because possession makes you culpable, that’s the law.”
The NDLEA spokesman further cautioned that not everyone in a similar situation would be as fortunate as the driver.
He said, “Your own case may be devoid of such luck and you go in for it.”
The agency therefore advised drivers and members of the public to exercise caution when accepting parcels for delivery, stressing that ignorance of a package’s contents may not prevent legal consequences where prohibited substances are found in their possession.
