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.
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.
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