Michael Olugbode in Abuja
A businesswoman Umrah (lesser Hajj) to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja after excreting 80 pellets of cocaine.
The woman, 46-year-old Mrs. Adisa Olayinka, who claimed to have engaged on the enterprise to raise N7 million for an In Vitro fertilization (IVF) operation as she could no more bear the shame of being in a marriage for 28 years without a child, said she was introduced to the “deal” when she last visited Saudi Arabia for Lesser Hajj.
According to the statement yesterday by the spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, Olayinka was picked at the boarding/screening area of the airport after she was suspected to have ingested hard drugs. She was subsequently taken into custody where she excreted 80 pellets of the illicit drug between Wednesday and Saturday, 27th November.
The suspect, who was arrested at the boarding/screening area of the airport during an outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight 1418, claimed during interrogation that she saved N2.5million over a period of one 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.
Olayinka said 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 IVF treatment due to pressure from people because she has been married for 28 years without a child due to fertility challenges.
Meanwhile, another trafficker, Inusa Abdulrazaki was arrested with 101 wraps of Heroin weighing 1.3 kilogrammes on Friday 19th November at Gate C -Departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos on his way to Italy via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines.
The drugs were concealed inside cassava flour popularly called gari. The following day Saturday 20th November, NDLEA operatives at the airport during a routine cargo search at NAHCO export shed intercepted an abandoned consignment of khat 17.90 kilogrammes.
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa while commending the officers and men of the NAIA and MMIA commands for their vigilance and steadfastness, urged them to always stay two steps ahead of the drug cartels.
