Saudi bound pilgrim excretes 76 wraps of cocaine
A 55-year-old woman on pilgrimage to Medina, Saudi Arabi, Basira Binuyo, was apprehended by The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on suspicion of ingesting drugs.
Not long after she was nabbed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, during the outward screening of passengers on an Emirate flight to Medina through Dubai, she excreted 76 pellets of cocaine.
Hamisu Lawan, the NDLEA commander at the Abuja airport, said the suspect will remain under observation until the drugs are completely expelled.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA also arrested a 37-year-old father of three at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos with seven wraps of cocaine in his anus.
The suspect, Henry Okpalanem, was caught during the screening of passengers about to board an Ethiopian Airline flight to Hong Kong through Addis Ababa. He was on his way to China.
The spokesperson for NDLA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, the suspect is lucky he was caught here and not in China as he would have been executed.
It was learnt that the Imo State indigene inserted 355g of cocaine in his anus but was forced to excrete the drug after being apprehended.
The suspect had lived in China for over two years before his arrest.
In his statement, Okpalanem, said he knew importing drugs into China was a capital offence, which could earn him execution.
‘I thought I could smuggle the drug successfully. Maybe, I was caught in Nigeria because execution is not my destiny,’ the father of three said.
NDLEA Chairman, Col. Muhammad Abdallah (retd.), said the suspect must understand that his arrest had nothing to do with his ‘colourful destiny.’
He, however, called on the public to join the agency’s anti-narcotics campaign.
