Barely
a week after the arrest of a Nigerian by sniffer dogs at the Kotoka
International Airport (KIA), Accra; another Nigerian is in the grip of
officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) for ingesting pellets of
heroin.
Chika
Macillinus Umeugokwe, a 31-year-old trader, was arrested last Saturday, January
11, 2014, shortly after boarding a taxi at the KIA on his arrival from
Pakistan.
His
two accomplices, however, managed to escape.
When
he was taken to the NACOB headquarters, he allegedly expelled 69 pellets of
heroin weighing one kilogramme with a street value of $80,000.
Briefing
the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday,
the Deputy Executive Secretary of NACOB, Nii Lantey Blankson, said the suspect
claimed he had swallowed 77 pellets of heroin but vomited some in Pakistan
before setting off.
He
said the arrest of Umeugokwe brought to six, the number of Nigerians who had so
far been arrested at the airport for drug trafficking within a month.
According
to him, Umeugokwe left Nigeria for Ghana somewhere in November last year, by
road and left the following day on board Kenya Airways to Nairobi and continued
with Etihad Airlines to Pakistan.
The
Deputy Executive Secretary indicated that Umeugokwe stayed at the Metro Park
Hotel in Islamabad in Pakistan for six weeks.
While
there, Mr Blankson said the suspect claimed another Nigerian, whose name he
gave only as Cosmos, assisted him to purchase the drugs.
According
to him, the suspect claimed he paid $3,500 for 50 pellets of the heroin but
Cosmos added 27 to what he had swallowed to be given to his brother on the
suspect’s arrival in Nigeria, but the suspect vomited some in Pakistan.
He
said on arrival, the suspect was allowed to go through the formalities but
unknown to him; he was being monitored by the NACOB officials who followed him
outside where he met two men, a Nigerian and a Ghanaian. The three later
stopped a taxi but as the driver was parking, the other two suspects fled.
Graphic
Online
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