The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said it has arrested two
women attempting to smuggle cocaine aboard a Qatar Airways flight to
China.
Deborah Alaka and Chinyere Chukwujekwu were found to possess about 3
kilogrammes of cocaine at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in
Lagos.
The arrest came few weeks after some Nigerians were executed in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
The suspects said in their statements that they were pushed into
cocaine smuggling because their husbands abandoned them, according to
the NDLEA.
“These women are curiously desperate for ingesting drugs, packing
some on their bodies and inserting in their vagina,” Hamza Umar, the
NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, said.
Mrs. Alaka, 47, was caught with 1.180kg of cocaine – 260 grammes
inserted into her private part and 60 wraps weighing 920 grammes
ingested.
The agency caught Mrs. Chukwujekwu, 45, with 1.455kg of cocaine – 59
wraps packed on her body, one parcel inserted into her private part,
and 10 wraps weighing 170 grammes ingested, the NDLEA said.
“I got married early because there was no money for me to further my
studies after my primary education,” Mrs. Chukwujekwu told NDLEA
investigators.
“My husband who is a retired soldier abandoned me 10 years ago.
Since then my life has been sorrowful. I sell female clothes and shoes
to take care of my children.”
The suspect said she met a man at the market who promised to assist her by introducing her into the importation business.
“This was how we began to talk on phone. He gives me recharge cards and money to sustain myself,” Mrs. Chukwujekwu said.
“It was the day I was to travel that he told me that I will take
drugs to China. He took me to a hotel where I was given the drugs and
six thousand dollars to buy my goods in China. I could only swallow ten
wraps, so I forced some in my vagina and packed others in my underwear.”
In her statement to the NDLEA, Mrs. Alaka said her own husband abandoned her with seven children.
“I sell female bags and shoes to sustain myself and my children,” she said. “My husband left me in 2005 and since then I have been facing several challenges.
“I took loan to travel to China and in the process I incurred huge
debt which compounded my problems. At a point, I had no money for food,
school fees and even house rent. This was what made me to smuggle drugs.
“I swallowed 59 wraps of drugs all through the night because of 6,000
dollars. I also packed some in my underwear and one in my vagina. It
was a terrible experience. I feel so sad that I have to end up this way
as a Christian.”
Ahmadu Giade, the NDLEA Chairman, described the action of the women as “disgraceful.”
“It is good that the drugs were detected here by our officials
because China has capital punishment for drug trafficking,” Mr. Giade
said.
“This arrest has saved them from death and the country from
embarrassment. Their action is utterly disgraceful because as mothers
they ought to show good example for their children to emulate.”
The NDLEA said the suspects would soon be charged to court.
Source:
Photo credit: Premium Times
And there's death penalty in China. These people will never learn.
ReplyDeleteNDLEA just saved them from the hangman
Delete