The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
apprehended four suspected drug traffickers at the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, Lagos for attempting to smuggle cocaine to
Brazil.
According to reports by Punch, the suspects ─ Ejiofor Eliezer (46),
Obah Francis (30), Akpa Sobuzochukwu (27) and 36-year-old Ike Okechukwu ─
excreted 171 wraps of drug that tested positive for cocaine.
Apparently, the discovery was made during the screening of passengers
on board Qatar and Emirates airlines. Eliezer, who excreted 100 wraps
of the drug, told investigators that poverty pushed him to commit the
crime, adding that he had intended to use the expected proceed to fend
for his family of four, “I live in Brazil, where I work in a supermarket
and lived with my wife and four children. Life in Brazil is tough
because I live from hand to mouth. It was poverty that made me to
smuggle drugs. I took risk by swallowing 100 wraps of cocaine for
N200,000 because of poverty.”
Francis said he took to drug trafficking to augment the meager salary
he earned at a bakery in Brazil, “I am single and have been working in
Brazil for two years. At present, I work in a bakery and my salary is
meager. My plan was to give the drug to a friend in Dubai, but he did
not come to collect the drug as planned. This was how I had to come to
Nigeria with the drug. I blame my friend for my arrest because I would
have made S15,000 (about N2.8m) from the deal.”
Sobuzochukwu, who holds a diploma in accounting, also said his poor
salary as a cleaner forced him to ingest 26 wraps of cocaine for a fee
of S1,500 (about N285,000).
Okechukwu said he did not think that he would be arrested. He said he
had thought that the five wraps of cocaine he ingested would not be
detected, “I regret my involvement in drug trafficking. I dropped out of
school in Junior Secondary School class two and I work in a toy company
in Brazil,” he added.
The NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade, said Brazil-Nigeria route was a
high risk path to drug trafficking and urged officers to be
vigilant, “The suspects will soon be charged to court,” Giade added.
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