Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have arrested a Nigerian man for importing heroin into Nigeria.
Anukaenyi Bob-Manuel Ogochukwu had just arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Nairobi, Kenya when the security screening discovered he was carrying heroin wraps inside his body.
NDLEA spokeman, Mitchell Ofoyeju said that the arrest took place after the suspect tested positive for narcotic ingestion. The suspect was carrying 66 wraps of heroin, weighing 1.115kg.
NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, Ahmadu Garba said that the suspect, while under narcotic watch, excreted 66 wraps of powdery substance that tested positive for heroin.
In his confessional statement, Ogochukwu, 43, explained that he smuggled drugs to save his four-year old son who he said was on sick bed in Nairobi.
“I teach in a computer school at Onitsha, Anambra State,” he said. “This is my very first time of having anything to do with drugs. I smuggled drugs to save my sick child. The doctor said that my child has a hole in the heart. I met many people for help, but nobody was willing to help me except a drug baron.
Ogochukwu said drug barons from Tanzania offerd him $2,000 to smuggle the heroin from Kenya to Nigeria.
Ogochukwu who is married to a Kenyan lady hails from Anambra State.
Col Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, Chief Executive of the NDLEA said that there is no excuse for committing crime, saying that the suspect would be charged to court for further prosecution.
“Drug trafficking is a criminal offence and the suspect will be charged accordingly,” Abdallah said. “The suspect’s action only complicated his condition because he is here facing a criminal charge while the responsibility of taking care of his sick son now rest solely on the wife.”
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