60-Year-Old Farmer Arrested While Smuggling Hard Drug For His Son In EFCC Detention

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a 60-year-old fish-farmer, Muyiwa Otuyalo, who was allegedly attempting to smuggle in hard drugs for his son, Damilola Otuyalo, in the custody of the Commission’s Ibadan zonal office.

The EFCC disclosed this in a statement issued by the Acting Head, Media and Publicity, Tony Orilade, on Tuesday, February 18, 2020.

According to the statement, Mr Otulayo had visited his son who is in the EFCC custody for alleged fraudulent practices when he attempted to smuggle the hard drugs for him.

“The older Otuyalo was at the premises of the EFCC in Ibadan on Monday, February 17, 2020, supposedly to visit his son. But while discussing with the son, an officer noticed that he brought out a sachet of tablets and handed the same to him.

“The officer subsequently raises an alarm which led to the confiscation of the drug.

“When the in-house nurse was called upon for assessment of the content, it was revealed that the said item was Rohypnol, a tranquillizer used under strict prescription for treatment of severe insomnia and assist in anaesthesia.”

The drug, according to the EFCC spokesperson is said to “possess high sedative effect and is rarely used except when prescribed by licensed medical officers.”

“The younger Otuyalo was recently arrested after a criminal case of money laundering detected in the United Kingdom was reported against him.

“The case which involved £45,000 was a fragment of a wider one involving about £500,000 for which he has been declared wanted by the London’s Metropolitan Police,” the EFCC said.

The younger Otuyalo was reported to have been on the wanted list of the International Police, Interpol before the petition was filed at the EFCC, Ibadan zonal office.

The statement further revealed that officers of the Nigerian Interpol were already in contact with the Commission in respect of the said case before the suspect’s father attempted to smuggle in the hard drug for him.

“Further investigations are ongoing, even as the Commission intends to hand him over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for possible prosecution of the suspected narcotics case,” the statement reads.