Drugs drama cancels Eagles flight

Nigeria failed to fly out Saturday night after two passengers on their flight were nabbed for drugs at the Lagos airport, officials said.

The Eagles were due to fly out to Madrid, Spain, enroute to Lima, Peru for a friendly on Wednesday.

However, team spokesman Ben Alaiya told MTNFootball.com that the Iberia flight was cancelled after two passengers on the same flight were apprehended for being in possession of hard drugs.

“Our flight was cancelled after two passengers were alleged to have in their possession drugs, which were found in their bags. One of the suspects escaped arrest and the rest of the passengers including us were asked to disembark,” Alaiya disclosed.

“We have been ordered to return by 9.30am on Sunday to now leave the country.”

One of the players on the trip, Gbolahan Salami, said the team are disappointed they did not fly out as planned but they are helpless.

“We are disappointed, but there is really nothing we can do about this,” he said.

The Eagles were then forced to return to their Ikeja hotel.

The friendly match is part of the build-up for a hectic month of June during which Nigeria will play three qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup as well as the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

They host Namibia on June 3 in a World Cup qualifier and a week later will be in Blantyre, Malawi, in continuation of the series.

And on June 17, they battle Rwanda for the next round of the 2013 Nations Cup after both teams played out a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Kigali in February.

-MTNfootball

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