Posted by ANTHONY OMOH and OLATUBOSUN SOWEMIMO on
SUSPECTED drug peddler, Mr. Babatunde Jamiu yesterday allegedly defecated 20 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.109 kilogrammes.
SUSPECTED drug peddler, Mr. Babatunde Jamiu yesterday allegedly defecated 20 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.109 kilogrammes.
Also, a Federal High Court sentenced a 53-year-old mother of two identified as Mrs. Adebayo Samuel to eight months jail term after finding her guilty of attempting to export six kilogrammes of cocaine to London.
In a text message to our correspondent , the Public Affairs Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mrs. Ofoyeju Mitchell confirmed the quantity of substance so far excreted by the suspect who is in the agency's net.
According to her, "We are closely monitoring him and would make a statement on the exact quantity of the substance, suspected to be cocaine later."
Meanwhile, NDLEA is determined to check the nefarious activities of these drug peddlers at the nation's airports.
Speaking to newsmen on phone on the latest arrest of a drug peddler at the Lagos Airport last Sunday, the senior special adviser on aviation to the President, Captain Shehu Usman Iyal, expressed the Presidency's concern on the matter, noting that it was destroying the image of the country abroad.
Iyal expressed the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua-led government's determination to ensure that no one tarnished the hard earned image of Nigeria.
He attributed the arrests of the drug peddlers to the vigilance of the NDLEA officials at the airport.
Iyal also said it would have been more shameful, if the traffickers had been arrested outside the shores of Nigeria stressing that the federal government is not leaving any stone unturned in ensuring that the nation took its rightful place in the comity of nations.
He said the ability of the NDLEA men to arrest the traffickers had shown that they were alert to their responsibilities at the number one gateway.
He called on the NDLEA, aviation agencies and other law enforcement agencies at the airports to come together and be more vigilant while screening passengers.
The 43-year-old Jamiu alleged was arrested during the screening of passengers on Virgin Nigeria from Lagos to London at the MMIA Ikeja, at about 22:48 hours on Sunday, while attempting to export cocaine which he ingested.
Jamiu however revealed that he was being sponsored by one Toyin Igbirra who resides in Surulere, Lagos.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA had arraigned Mrs. Samuel before Justice Jonathan Shakarho on a one count charge of attempting to smuggle hard drugs unlawfully to which she pleaded guilty.
The suspect was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos with the substance concealed in her luggage on April 20, 2007 when she was traveling to London with her two kids on her way to the United States to meet her husband one Tunde Samuel.
The 1993 graduate of Economics confessed to have received the luggage containing the drugs and clothes from her cousin, Sheun Lawrence who is based in Switzerland.
According to her, she was asked to deliver it to one Tunmise Bamidele in London with a promise of financial reward. She was informed by Sheun that the drug in the bag was only eight hundred (800) grammes of cocaine but the actual quantity is six (6) kilogrammes.