A Saudi Arabia-bound woman has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The woman, identified as Mrs Afusat Olayinka, was said to be heading to Jeddah for Umrah (Lesser Haji) before she was arrested with 80 pellets of cocaine, a statement signed on Monday by NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said.
“The 46-year-old Mrs. Adisa Afusat Olayinka who lives in Ibafo, Ogun state hails from Ilorin, in Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State.
“She was arrested on Wednesday 24th November at the boarding screening area of the airport during an outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight 1418. She was subsequently taken into custody where she excreted 80 pellets of the illicit drug between Wednesday and Saturday, 27th Nov,” the statement read in part.
Olayinka during interviews by the NDLEA explained that she saved N2.5million over a period of one year to buy the drugs in bits from six different people at Akala, Mushin area of Lagos.
The suspect further said she was trading in clothes but had to borrow N1million from three persons to make up the money used to buy the drugs, adding that she spent another N1million to renew her passport, visa, and buy return flight tickets.
“She said she was encouraged to traffic the drugs by a woman she met during her last Umrah trip to Saudi Arabia in 2019. She added that she needed to raise N7million for In Vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment due to pressure from people because she’s been married for 28 years without a child due to fertility challenges.”
Meanwhile, another trafficker, Inusa Abdulrazaki was arrested with 101 wraps of Heroin weighing 1.3 kilograms on Friday 19th Nov. at Gate C -Departure hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos.
According to the statement, Abdulrazaki was arrested on his way to Italy via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines.
“The drugs were concealed inside cassava flour popularly called gari. The following day Saturday 20th Nov, NDLEA operatives at the airport during a routine cargo search at NAHCO export shed intercepted an abandoned consignment of khat 17.90kg.” (Adapted from Channels TV report)
