•Another drug trafficker nabbed with 101 wraps of heroin at Lagos airport
A businesswoman, Mrs. Adisa Afusat Olayinka, who was on her way to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for Umrah (lesser hajj), has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja, for ingesting 80 pellets of cocaine.
The 46-year-old woman, a resident of Ibafo, Ogun State, but indigene of Ilorin, in Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara state, was arrested on Wednesday, November 24, at the boarding screening area of the airport during an outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight 1418.
She was subsequently taken into custody where she excreted the 80 pellets of the illicit drug between Wednesday and Saturday, November 27.
According to the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Monday, November 29, the suspect had claimed during interviews that she saved N2.5million over a period of a year to buy the drugs in bits from six different people at Akala, Mushin area of Lagos State.
The suspect further said she was trading in clothes but had to borrow N1 million from three persons to make up the money used to buy the drugs, adding that she spent another N1 million to renew her passport, visa and buy return flight tickets.
She told investigators that she was encouraged to traffic the drugs by a woman she met during her last Umrah trip to Saudi Arabia in 2019. She added that she needed to raise N7 million for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment due to pressure from people because she had been married for 28 years without a child due to fertility challenges.
Babafemi also disclosed the arrest of another trafficker, Inusa Abdulrazaki, who was caught with 101 wraps of heroin weighing 1.3 kilogrammes on Friday, November 19, at Gate C -Departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos on his way to Italy via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines
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The drugs were said to have been concealed inside cassava flour popularly called garri.
In addition, NDLEA operatives at the airport intercepted an abandoned consignment of khat 17.90kg during a routine cargo search at NAHCO export shed on Saturday, November 20.
Commending the officers and men of the NAIA and MMIA commands for their vigilance and steadfastness, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa urged them to always stay two steps ahead of the drug cartels.
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