Desperation or poverty? A father of five from Anambra State, 49-year-old Tochukwu Nwafor, has been nabbed by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for ingesting 73 wraps of cocaine.
According to NDLEA’s spokesperson, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, the suspect was on his way to Dubai, when he was nabbed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja during a routine check on the passengers of an Ethiopian Airline flight.
NDLEA commander at the airport, Mr. Hamisu Lawan, said that when the suspect was discovered to have ingested drugs, he was put on observation…
“While under observation, he excreted 73 wraps of cocaine that weighed 1.699kgs.”
Mr. Tochukwu said he was offered N1.5m to smuggle the drugs to Dubai.
According to his statement, he lives in Lagos with his wife and five children and got involved in the drug smuggling business because of economic hardship.
“I thought it would be easy to go undetected,” Nwafor said.
Chairman of NDLEA, Col. Muhammad Abdallah, called on members of the public to avoid falling into the trap of drug cartels who deceive them into thinking drug smuggling is easy.
“They offer them money to smuggle drugs but will not tell them they will be caught in the process. Unfortunately, most drug couriers only understand that they are being used when they have been caught,” he said.
The NDLEA said Mr. Tochukwu would be charged to court.