By Oghenekevwe Laba
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Ahmadu Giade said that the Agency has uncovered new tricks drug traffickers adopt in evading arrest. This followed the arrest of two suspected drug couriers who tested positive for drug ingestion at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos. One of them was found to have allegedly ingested narcotics while on transit at the airport in Brazil. The second suspect was caught going to Cameroon from where he will connect another flight to Frankfurt.
Giade attributed the arrests to effective proactive measures by the NDLEA. “Drug traffickers are full of surprises but we are prepared to counter their plans. One of the suspects ingested the drug at the toilet while on transit at the airport in Brazil and the second suspect who was going to Germany decided to first book his flight to Cameroon just to divert attention of officers. These are strategies of evading arrest but we are poised to nip their tricks in the bud” the NDLEA boss assured.
NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Mr Hamza Umar gave the names of the suspects as Dickson Daniel Chinedu, 34 years old and Okeke Joseph Chukwunwike, 30 years old. According to Hamza, “Dickson arrived on a KLM flight on his way from Trinidad and Tobago and tested positive to drug ingestion. He concealed 980 grammes of cocaine while Okeke ingested 1.170kg of cocaine and 335 grammes of heroin and was to board a Cameroon airline flight to Cameroon. The total weight of the drugs found in their possession is 2.485kg”.
Dickson Daniel Chinedu claimed to have secured admission at Trinidad and Tobago. In his words, “I had just been given admission at the University of Southern Caribbean. I have been working in Trinidad for the past five months. My savings was not enough for my studies and I called a friend in Brazil to help me with 2,000 dollars. He said that he wanted me to transit Brazil on my way to Lagos that he will give me 3,800 dollars. In fact, he made all my travel arrangement. When I got to Brazil while on transit, he gave me the drugs and assured me that everything will be fine. I agreed to smuggle the drugs because of my education. I could not swallow everything so he left with the remaining wraps”. Dickson is married with two children. He hails from Amachala village in Abia State.
Okeke Joseph Chukwunwike, an importer of auto parts said that he was under pressure because his traditional marriage had been fixed for December 28, 2012. “Three months ago, a friend duped me of 6.5 million naira. I gave him the money to buy goods for me and I have not seen him again. Even his number had since been switched off. I have tried my best to recover from the loss but to no avail and I am under pressure because my traditional marriage is December 28, 2012. I was also instructed to first go to Cameroon that was while I took that route. I hope and pray that my spouse will pardon me” Okeke explained. He hails from Ogidi, Anambra State.
Both suspects will soon be charged to court.