Chinedu Eze
22 September 2009
Lagos — The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 44-year-old Guinean woman, Soumah Bountou, for being in possession of 6.350kg cocaine hidden in a cosmetic bag at the Murtala Muhammed Interna-tional Airport, Lagos.
The agency said the drug has an estimated street value of over N69 million and described its quality as "the purest and single highest seizure of cocaine made by the Airport Command of the Agency this year".
In a statement by the agency's spokesman, Ofoyeju Mitchell, the suspect, who is a trader, was arrested on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at about 10.30pm on an Iberia flight from Brazil.
"The drug was concealed industrially in makeup kits and packed in two black bags," the statement said.
The French speaking suspect, Bountou, told NDLEA officers that she used to travel to Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria to buy clothes and wigs until she met her sponsors.
"I am a widow, my husband died in 2004 leaving me and my daughter who is now 22 years. The man who introduced me to drugs said that I should be going to Europe to buy my wares and I was excited about going to Brazil. They paid my travel expenses and somebody even received me when I arrived. I thought they were being nice, unfortunately it turned out to be drug trafficking," Bountou said amidst tears.
Reacting to the arrest, the Chairman and CEO of the agency, Ahmadu Giade, said he was committed to dislodging illegal drug syndicates on Brazil, Guinea and Nigeria routes.
"Success can be achieved anywhere. When people offer to sponsor your trip to Europe and you are suspicious, discreetly contact the nearest NDLEA office. By so doing, we will be able to nip the plot in the bud," Giade stated.
Other suspects arrested by the agency on drug peddling include a telephone engineer, Mbamalu Vincent Chukwudi, 27; Uche James Udeh, 35; and Ayodele Abiola a.k.a. Kaba Mohammed, 41 who are traders.
The agency said it arrested Chukwudi on September 15, 2009 while attempting to board a South African Airline flight to Johannesburg with a 5.7kg ephedrine.
NDLEA said the drug was concealed in the false bottom of his luggage and in the suspect's statement he said his wife and only child died of food poisoning three months earlier.
"When I lost my wife and daughter, I left Enugu first for Lagos and later South Africa. My visa requires me not to exceed 30 days in each entry and I was desperate to travel so as to avoid having problem with Immi-gration officials.
That was when I met a man in South Africa who offered to pay for my return ticket to bring a message for him.
"I did not know it was drug because I asked the man that gave me the bag at the airport if there was cocaine. He told me there was industrial sugar which was not contraband. I did not search the bag, but even if I did I would not have seen it because the officers went the extra mile to discover it. That was how I got involved," Chukwudi stated.
He is from Aguata in Anambra State.
Also, Udeh was arrested by the NDLEA on his way to Milan, Italy on a KLM flight when he tested positive for drug ingestion.
He was said to have later excreted 116 wraps of substances that tested positive for cocaine weighing 2.129kg.
Udeh, who hails from Ohafia in Abia State, had lived in Cotonou, Republic of Benin for 16 years where he sold second hand clothes.
"My friend in Spain called me to bring the drug. His contact person gave me the drug in Benin Republic where I swallowed it and took a car to Lagos because of my flight that day but I was arrested when I tested positive to drugs. I am not married but things are very rough with me. My elder sister died in 2001 leaving three children for me. This is my first time of doing drugs," Udeh said.
The third suspect, Abiola from Ogun State, with a Guinea international passport and name Kaba Mohammed, was also arrested by the agency officials.
He said he had ingested 60 wraps of substances that tested positive to cocaine and was still under observation to excrete all the wraps of drugs he swallowed.
The agency said Abiola travelled to Brazil where he smuggled the drug for which he would have been paid $2,000.
"My situation was very sad. Imagine I am still single at my age after sojourning in Matoto, Guinea for 20 years. I was persuaded into carrying the drugs. Unfortunately, my first trip happened to be a bad trip. My sponsors were even annoyed with me for swallowing only 60 capsules. I know I have offended my nation and disrespected my national flag, but I pray for forgiveness. I have been very sad since I was caught," he said.
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