THERE couldn't have been a much more suitable
adjective to describe the action of a middle-aged
woman who threw caution to the winds and
swallowed an astonishing 51 wraps of cocaine for
inexcusable reason of poverty than to describe it as
'suicide'.
The 38 year-old woman from Oduma in Enugu
State who resides in Brazil gave her name as
Mbechi Obiageli Susan. She was arrested at the
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on her
way from Sao Paulo, Brazil, by operatives of the
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA,
with the aid of a scanning machine.
Though the woman has since pleaded poverty for
her action, chairman of the anti-narcotic agency,
Ahmadu Giade, was quick to disagree with her
claim on the ground that there were several other
credible means of earning a living.
Illicit drug trafficking
Giade said: "Poverty is far from an excuse for
anybody to take to illicit drug trafficking. There are
many other ways of making a living without
breaching the law. Apart from offending the law, did
she think about the danger inherent in ingesting
hard drugs as a pregnant woman? This is why we
shall continue to do our best to provide enabling
environment to fight this menace that is fast
assuming frightening dimension."
While the case of Susan was still being analysed,
two other women, Ms. Obiakor Maryann Okwudili
and Ms. Anene Blessing Iruoma allegedly walked
into the agency's dragnet also at the same airport
with a much more larger quantity of hard drugs
which later tested for Methamphetamine smartly
concealed in their customized panties, brassiers
and hair wigs.
Though the women tried to outwit NDLEA
operatives, they were, however, betrayed by their
body frisk; and that attracted the attention of airport
security officials who suspected that there must be
more to their gorgeous looks. Upon profiling too,
the duo who hail from Nando and Igbariam in
Anambra State respectively were discovered to
have concealed the illicit drugs in their underwears
and hair wigs.
They were both on their way to Malaysia via Cairo
and attempted to board an Egypt airline flight. They
too blamed poverty for their woes. The drugs
weighed 4.5kgs.
Commenting on the arrest, Abuja airport
commander of NDLEA, Mr. Hamisu Lawan, said he
was shocked at the escalating rate of women's
involvement in criminality especially illicit drug
trafficking. Though he commended his men for their
exceptional performance, he also expressed
gratitude to airport security officials for their
alertness and collaboration.
Hamisu said: "The drugs were detected during
routine screening of passengers. The suspects are
helping narcotic officials in our investigation. I
commend the level of cooperation among security
agencies at the airport. I also thank the
management of the Federal Airport Authority of
Nigeria, FAAN, for their significant role in these
arrests.
"Miss Anene Blessing hails from Igbariam in
Anambra State with passport number A03660604.
She was found to be wearing a customized
brassier, pants and hair wig all stuffed with
substances which tested positive for
methamphetamine weighing 1.7kg. Ms Obiakor
Maryann Okwudili, age 34, who hails from Nando in
Anambra State with passport number A01444553
was apprehended on same flight with Anene.
She too concealed 1.90kg of methamphetamine in
under wears. The third suspect named Mbechi
Obiageli Susan, with passport number A00288396
hails from Oduma village in Enugu State. She
ingested 900 grammes of cocaine and was
arrested on her way from Sao-Paulo, Brazil with the
aid of scanning machines. Mbechi claimed to be
three months pregnant and during the process of
profiling, she excreted 51 pellets of cocaine
weighing 900 grammes.source from vanguard