Posted by Sun News Online on
The saying, 'You can't run away from your shadow" becomes true of a drug trafficker, who finally got nabbed by security operatives.
The saying, 'You can't run away from your shadow" becomes true of a drug trafficker, who finally got nabbed by security operatives.
Okonkwo Charles Chukwunonso, 35, had earlier fled from Holland, where he was residing after he discovered that the Dutch authorities had uncovered his illicit trade of cocaine trafficking. The Dutch authorities were said to have sent out an alert to its embassy in Nigeria and, without wasting any time, the embassy sent information about the suspect and his picture, to other embassies.
He was held on April 16, 2007, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), when he walked into the American embassy to renew his travelling documents in preparation for a trip outside the country.
Daily Sun gathered that Chukwunonso had allegedly been actively engaged in cocaine trafficking in Holland. He became uneasy and decided to leave Holland after he discovered that the Dutch authorities were watching him like an eagle.
He returned to Nigeria to continue with his life, believing that he had covered his tracks. When the Dutch authories discovered that Chukwunonso had fled their nest, they were unperturbed. They immediately stormed his abandoned apartment and painstakingly searched through his left-over property, hoping to latch on to any clue.
Their pains paid off when they succeeded in finding his international passport. Immediately, the Dutch authorities notified their counterparts in Nigeria about the latest development and a trap was set for him with the assistance of other embassies.
The suspect, who had been lying low for long, decided to surface and shift his operations to America. He had gone to the American embassy to secure a visa when his photo popped up and records fingered him as a wanted person.
The embassy officials for reasons best known to them alerted the EFCC instead of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). After his arrest, Chukwunonso's home in the Ogudu area of Ikeja was thoroughly searched and 24 capsules of a whitish substance suspected to be cocaine were found by the operatives.
Just to be sure that the substance was cocaine, experts from the NDLEA were invited in for analysis. The result revealed that the substance contained 550 grams of cocaine.
The suspect has, however, disputed the analysis, claiming that it contained only 370 grams. He claimed to be dealing in mobile phones and denied ever dealing in drugs in Holland.
He said: 'While in Holland, I was doing a black job." According to him, black job is a factory work.
EFCC has already concluded plans to hand him over to NDLEA for further investigations, since cocaine trafficking offence is within their jurisdiction.