By Simon Ateba
Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested a pregnant woman with 27 wraps of cocaine concealed in her stomach.
The 29-year old suspect, Osatohanwen Esohe, was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, while attempting to board an Alitalia flight to Europe.
NDLEA Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, told our correspondent this morning that after observation, the suspect expelled 27 wraps of substances that tested positive to cocaine weighing 350 grammes.
Four other suspects were arrested for for ingesting 6.265 kg of narcotics.
Apart from Chukwuma Kingsley Uchemadu that ingested 1.430 kg of heroin, Esohe and three others were smuggling 4.835 kg of cocaine when they were caught.
The NDLEA Airport Commander, Alhaji Hamza Umar, who confirmed the arrest of Esohe expressed shock at the strange act, stressing that drug suspects have no respect for human lives.
“They do not have respect for their own lives neither do they respect the dignity of their children. This is the level of desperation of drug barons and their associates,” Hamza stated.
The commander also gave the names of the four suspects that were recently nabbed by the agency. They include Arovo Moses Amaso, 42, that ingested 1.725 kg of cocaine, Darlington Nwanwere, 48, that ingested 1.300 kg of cocaine, Okeke Anthony Maduabuchukwu, 46 that ingested 1.460 kg of cocaine and Chukwuma Kingsley Uchemadu, 34 that ingested 1.430 kg of heroin.
Esohe who hails from Benin City, Edo State told anti-narcotic officers that the man that impregnated her rejected her and she needed to fend for herself.
According to her, “I am three months pregnant. The man that impregnated me refused to take responsibility and I am jobless. That was how I got involved in drug trafficking. They promised to pay me 2,000 euros. This is my first time of smuggling drugs; I only needed money to take care of myself and the unborn baby.”
Maduabuchukwu a trader that sells frozen foods at Mile 2, Lagos was nabbed on March 19, during the screening of passengers on Virgin Atlantic flight to London. He ingested 72 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.460 kg and was to be paid 4,000 pounds.
According to the suspect, he was in South Korea between 2000 and 2005 but his 16,500 dollars savings he sent home was squandered by his relatives. Okeke who hails from Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State lives at Ijanikin, Lagos with his wife and three children.
Uchenmadu the only suspect that ingested heroin was to be paid the sum of 5,000 euros for ingesting 95 wraps of heroin weighing 1.430 kg. Uchemadu is a trader selling shoes and clothes in Cotonou, Benin Republic for the past six years.
He was arrested on March 16 while trying to board Alitalia flight to Milan. His reason for trafficking drugs was to raise money for the medical bills of his sick mother.
Nwanwere, an automobile technician residing at Alagbado, Lagos was also lured into swallowing 92 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.300 kg.
He was to be paid the sum of N400,000.
His reason for trafficking drugs is economic hardship.
According to him, “I do not have a house and to eat is a problem.”
Darlington was to board a Turkish airline to Turkey when he was arrested on March 27, 2010. Amaso who had lived in Spain for 13 years said that there was nothing to show for his long sojourn in Europe.
He swallowed 83 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.725 kg on his way to Rome. Amaso, who hails from Edo State, was to board Alitalia flight when the scanning machine detected that he had drugs on him.
NDLEA said that all the suspects will soon be charged to court.
