SUICIDAL! Pregnenant woman swallows 51 wraps of cocaine

THERE couldn’t have been a
much more suitable adjective
to describe the action of a
middle-aged woman who
threw caution to the winds
and swallowed an
astonishing 51 wraps of
cocaine for inexcusable
reason of poverty than to
describe it as ‘suicide’.
The 38 year-old woman from
Oduma in Enugu State who
resides in Brazil gave her
name as Mbechi Obiageli
Susan. She was arrested at
the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja,
on her way from Sao Paulo,
Brazil, by operatives of the
National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency, NDLEA,
with the aid of a scanning
machine.
Though the woman has
since pleaded poverty for her
action, chairman of the anti-
narcotic agency, Ahmadu
Giade, was quick to disagree
with her claim on the ground
that there were several other
credible means of earning a
living.
Illicit drug trafficking
Giade said: “Poverty is far
from an excuse for anybody
to take to illicit drug
trafficking. There are many
other ways of making a
living without breaching the
law. Apart from offending
the law, did she think about
the danger inherent in
ingesting hard drugs as a
pregnant woman? This is
why we shall continue to do
our best to provide enabling
environment to fight this
menace that is fast assuming
frightening dimension.”
While the case of Susan was
still being analysed, two
other women, Ms. Obiakor
Maryann Okwudili and Ms.
Anene Blessing Iruoma
allegedly walked into the
agency’s dragnet also at the
same airport with a much
more larger quantity of hard
drugs which later tested for
Methamphetamine smartly
concealed in their
customized panties,
brassiers and hair wigs.
Though the women tried to
outwit NDLEA operatives,
they were, however,
betrayed by their body frisk;
and that attracted the
attention of airport security
officials who suspected that
there must be more to their
gorgeous looks. Upon
profiling too, the duo who
hail from Nando and
Igbariam in Anambra State
respectively were discovered
to have concealed the illicit
drugs in their underwears
and hair wigs.
They were both on their way
to Malaysia via Cairo and
attempted to board an Egypt
airline flight. They too
blamed poverty for their
woes. The drugs weighed
4.5kgs.
Commenting on the arrest,
Abuja airport commander of
NDLEA, Mr. Hamisu Lawan,
said he was shocked at the
escalating rate of women’s
involvement in criminality
especially illicit drug
trafficking. Though he
commended his men for
their exceptional
performance, he also
expressed gratitude to
airport security officials for
their alertness and
collaboration.
Hamisu said: “The drugs
were detected during
routine screening of
passengers. The suspects are
helping narcotic officials in
our investigation. I commend
the level of cooperation
among security agencies at
the airport. I also thank the
management of the Federal
Airport Authority of Nigeria,
FAAN, for their significant
role in these arrests.
“Miss Anene Blessing hails
from Igbariam in Anambra
State with passport number
A03660604. She was found
to be wearing a customized
brassier, pants and hair wig
all stuffed with substances
which tested positive for
methamphetamine weighing
1.7kg. Ms Obiakor Maryann
Okwudili, age 34, who hails
from Nando in Anambra
State with passport number
A01444553 was
apprehended on same flight
with Anene.
She too concealed 1.90kg of
methamphetamine in under
wears. The third suspect
named Mbechi Obiageli
Susan, with passport number
A00288396 hails from
Oduma village in Enugu State.
She ingested 900 grammes
of cocaine and was arrested
on her way from Sao-Paulo,
Brazil with the aid of
scanning machines. Mbechi
claimed to be three months
pregnant and during the
process of profiling, she
excreted 51 pellets of
cocaine weighing 900
grammes.