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31.03.2003 General News

Nigerians grabbed for drug trafficking at KIA

31.03.2003 LISTEN
By Graphic

THE security agencies have arrested five Nigerians at the Kotoka International Airport for alleged drug trafficking.

One of the suspects, Collins Okorie Elendu, 40, was arrested last Tuesday with 2.91 kilogrammes of a substance suspected to be cocaine concealed in a false compartment of his hand luggage.

Okorie Elendu, who was on his way to London, offered £500 to the security officers who arrested him but they rejected it.

The four others, who arrived in the country from Lahore, Pakistan, on Wednesday, were, as of last Friday, still expelling the drugs they had swallowed.

They are John Chiwakwe, 32, Felix Ugochukwu, 37, Theodore Onwuaeze Aguguo, 33, and Christian Onyeka Offiah, 38. They are all in police custody

In an interview in Accra, a source close to the Narcotics Control Board (NCB) said Okorie Elendu was scheduled to travel to London on board a Ghana Airways flight on March 25, but he was arrested at the last security check point.

It said Elendu was in possession of two pieces of hand luggage, one of which contained only the drugs concealed in the false compartment of the bottom of the bag.

The source said Elendu, who claimed to be a second-hand clothes dealer based in Cotonou, Benin, told the security agents that a friend of his gave him the empty bag to be delivered to another friend in London.

Elendu, according to the source, claimed that he missed the Ghana Airways bus which picks up its passengers in Cotonou and, therefore, decided to follow up through the airline's office in Lome, Togo.

He further said that when he got to the Lome office of Ghana Airways, he was informed that the bus had already left for Accra.

Elendu claimed that it was on his way to Accra to board the flight that a friend of his gave him the empty bag to be delivered to someone in London

On the four other suspects, the source said they were on board a Middle East Airlines flight which arrived at the airport on Wednesday.

Although they claimed they did not know one another, they told the security agents that they were all on their way to the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, to deliver the drugs to their friends.

The source said when Onyeka Offiah was interrogated, he said he went to Karachi to buy goods and bought the drugs as well for a friend in Abidjan.

Although Onyeka Offiah told security personnel that he had swallowed 55 pellets of the narcotic substance, he had expelled 79 pellets by Friday.

The source said Aguguo also claimed he was invited to Lahore, Pakistan, last month by a friend, whose name he only gave as Jude.

According to Aguguo, Jude convinced him to send the drugs to a contact in Abidjan for a reward of 240,000 Naira. Aguguo confessed to the security agents that he had swallowed 94 pellets and as of Friday, he had expelled 83 of them.

The source said Ogu, who claimed to be a refrigeration engineer, alleged that he went to Lahore sometime this month to seek greener pastures.

Ogu claimed that he was convinced by a friend, whose name he only gave as Ezah, to take the drugs to a friend in Abidjan. Ogu confessed to have swallowed 57 pellets but had expelled 61 pellets as at Friday.

On his part, Chiwakwe, who claimed to be auto parts dealer, informed the security personnel that he travelled to Lahore in September 2002.

Chiwakwe said he got stranded after he had lost $3,000 and was promised $2,000 by a friend, Effahi Oliseh, if he could deliver the drugs to a contact in Abidjan.

Although the suspect confessed to have swallowed 55 pellets, he had expelled 59 pellets as of Friday.

The source said the four are currently being monitored to ensure that they expelled all the drugs they had swallowed.

In a related development, during a post-mortem, 84 pellets were retrieved from the stomach of the 31-year-old Nigerian banker, Mr Mang Orji Ude, who was in transit to London, but died last Saturday, March 22, after the drug burst in his stomach.

A post-mortem examination revealed that 43 of the pellets were stuck in his intestines while 41 in his stomach. Mr Ude started behaving abnormally in the transit lounge of the Kotoka International Airport where he was waiting for his flight to London.

He was rushed to the Aviation Clinic for medical aid and on arrival, he started shouting for help while vomiting a whitish substance.

His condition started deteriorating and he was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra but he died later in the evening.

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