Naija News

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 theNational 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
thinkabout 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
theirgorgeous looks. Upon profiling too, the duowho 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 ofcooperation 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.