From Our Correspondent
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it arrested an India-bound passenger at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja for allegedly ingesting 80 wraps of cocaine.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesman announced in a statement, on Sunday, that the passenger was to board a Doha-bound flight en-route Delhi, on March 31.
According to Babafemi, the passenger used a Liberian passport bearing Carr Bismark when men of the agency arrested him.
“A body scan on the suspect revealed the ingestion of the illicit drugs. Preliminary checks showed the passenger’s real name is Freeman Ogbonna.
“The NDLEA placed the passenger under observation and in a short while he started to manifest signs of discomfort.
“Obviously, the volume of illicit drugs in his stomach choked him.
“Another substance taken to hold back excretion caused him to begin to vomit and excrete wraps of cocaine simultaneously,” the spokesman stated.
He stated that the suspect eventually excreted 80 wraps of cocaine.
According to him, Ogbonna claimed that a relative recruited him into drug trafficking.
“He vomited or excreted the drugs, weighing 889 grammes within four days. The risk almost took his life.
“Ogbonna said he was given the drugs to swallow at a hotel in Ikeja with a promise of N300,000 reward if he successfully delivers the consignment in India.”
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In a related development, the anti-drug agency also arrested a drug mule at the airport on his way to Oman.
Babafemi said the agency’s operatives discovered a false bottom in his backpack.
On the sides of the bag, he concealed illicit drugs. The suspect swiftly moved in on a man who accompanied him to the airport.
Operatives later discovered that the second man was the one who recruited the passenger to traffic the drugs.
The suspect said he returned from Dubai some years ago but still had a valid residence permit on his passport.
He claimed his recruiter promised him N1.5 million if he successfully delivered the consignment in Oman. His recruiter also received N200,000.
The agency spokesman said operatives found a charm in the passenger’s bags and another in his body.
“The drug mule confessed that he travelled to Ibadan earlier where a cleric gave him the charms to evade arrest.
“Another charm was found on the recruiter. The recruiter claimed they procured the charms for N70,000,’’ the statement read in part.
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