Madubuchi Nmeribeh

Two drug couriers are nabbed by law enforcement agencies

David Ikechukwu, 32, is a young promising entrepreneur. He was doing well until a bad investment caused a slide in his fortunes. Ikechukwu made various attempts to raise money so he could resuscicate the business. The Orlu, Imo State-born Ikechukwu started consulting friends until ‘help’ came his way. A friend introduced him to the world of narcotics, as a courier with a promise of N500,000 to ferry 60 wraps of cocaine from Nairobi, Kenya to Onitsha, Anambra State. Desperate Ikechukwu agreed. He travelled to Kenya from where he ingested the hard drug weighing 2.7 kg with a street value of over N15 million. The young man beat the security hurdles at the Eastern African nation but luck ran out on him on arrival at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA. Eagle-eyed operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, were suspicious of the passenger and pulled him aside for proper screening. On proper scrutiny, the anti-drug operatives noticed a strange object hanging in Ikechukwu’s system and was rushed to a Kano hospital where medical experts removed the substance and he was into custody. Ikechukwu was not alone. He had a partner in crime, Patrick Otaka, 48, a native of Abriba in Abia State. When he was paraded before journalists lrecently, David looked weak, dejected and sorrowful. He could not respond to questions from newsmen, he just looked up and down, shaking his head as if that would set him free.

•David

However, Patrick could speak. But he was confused. He admitted to have committed the crime and said, though poverty was the primary factor that led him into crime, he believed he was charmed by his masters who talked him into it. According to him, it would be difficult to identify his sponsors. He was working on instructions: swallow 72 wraps of cocaine in Kenya, board an Ethiopian airline enroute Addis Ababa to Kano and then, board a luxury bus and deliver the ‘goods’ somewhere in Onitsha. Things, however, blew open.

Patrick’s story was, that he was a successful business man based in Togo. At a point, his business crashed. He left Togo last year and relocated to Nigeria. Here in Nigeria, things were not rosy, either. To make ends meet, Patrick, on April this year, decided to travel to South-Korea. On getting to South-Korea, Patrick was immediately deported by authorities of that country. His life became miserable as all the money he invested in travelling out in search of greener pastures, went down the drain. Patrick started contacting friends for help. He got in touch with a bosom friend in Togo who talked him into the drug business.

He thought it would be easy. As the Ethiopian plane landed MAKIA, Patrick must have performed the sign of the cross, heaved a sigh of relief, with the hope that, at last, he had made it. With N500, 000 reward, he could, perhaps, start a desent business, or so he thought. That his children who were out of school because of school fees could now return to school, the six-month pregnant wife could have a hope of safe delivery; and the sick aged-mother would now be well taken care of! But his joy was dashed by narcotic agents who nabbed him and David.

“I regret my actions,” Patrick said sadly, as tears ran down his cheeks. Perhaps, at that point, he envisaged a future in prison, a future full of sorrow for a family he so much cherished.

Mr. Ambrose Umoru, NDLEA Commander at the airport told journalists that David and Patrick came into Nigeria aboard an Ethiopian Airline with flight No. ET 911. While parading the suspects, he said they were arrested at the Arrival Hall of MAKIA after they were scanned and strange objects identified in their body. They were found to have ingested 2.7 kg of cocaine with a street value of over N15 million. He said they in flew from Nairobi enroute Addis Ababa and finally landed in Kano where they were arrested, adding that David was nabbed with 60 ingested wraps of suspected cocaine weighing 1.250kg, while Patrick ingested 72 wraps of substances suspected to be cocaine with a total weight of 1.450kg.

•Otaka

“The two suspects had separately boarded the Ethiopian Airline flight in Nairobi, Kenya to deliver the drugs in Nigeria. The two suspects had agreed to traffic in drugs so as to raise money to revitalize their dwindling businesses and take care of their respective families as they professed to be bread winners,” Umoru noted. The NDLEA boss, however, added that luck ran out on them, “as the collaboration with our narcotics International Intelligence Network yielded the desired result. The two suspects were promptly arrested on arrival at the Arrival Hall of MAKIA. Upon subjecting them to body scanner, it was discovered that they ingested a total of 132 wraps of substances suspected to be cocaine. Investigation into the case is ongoing and they will be charged to court as soon as possible.” Umoru who also revealed that David Ikechukwu would have died as one of the wraps burst in his stomach, but was saved by medical doctors in a Kano hospital warned on the health implications of consuming illicit drugs, adding that NDLEA at MAKIA will not condone the activities of drug peddlers.

Also giving his first quarter report, Mr. Garba Ahmadu, Kano state Commander of NDLEA, said the Command has seized 1.9 tons of assorted illicit drugs, recorded 135 arrests, 79 prosecutions, while it rehabilitated 92 drugs addicts. He told our TheNEWS that with maximum support from the state government, the Command has been able to bring down the wave of drug abuse and peddling in the state to a considerable level. According to him, proactive measures were taken by the agency before the 2015 general elections, so as to bring down the rate of consumption of illicit drugs, particularly among the youths who were used as political thugs, “and it worked for us as the mop up exercise we did was able to control the rate of drug consumption in the state.

“You know that usually, during festive periods like Sallah, Christmas and even during elections; what the drug traffickers do is to bring in the substances one or two weeks before time; so what we did was to take the war to where cannabis, especially, is being cultivated. We had what we call operation-weed-eater in Ondo and Edo states where large farms of cannabis were destroyed. Officers from Kano here were temporarily redeployed to those hot states for that operation; and it paid off because when we succeeded in destroying the source, the traffickers would have little or nothing to bring into the states.”

The NDLEA boss also commended Kano state government for providing logistics such as vehicles as well as building a rehabilitation centre at Kiru Local Government Area, where repentant drug addicts are taken for rehabilitation, after which they are integrated back into the society. Ahmadu revealed that Kano State government under former Governor Rab’u Musa Kwankwaso also provided a platform which ensures economic empowerment of the rehabilitated drug addicts, who usually undergo different types of skill acquisition programmes, while at the rehabilitation centre. According to him, Kano state government is helping NDLEA in terms of manpower support through the establishment of a special Committee on fight against drug abuse and peddling in the state, made up of NDLEA, Police, Army, Civil Defence, Hisbah, SSS and other security and para-military agencies.