The suspects – 54-year-old Chinweuba Echezona, who is a driver and 44-year-old Ekwueme Louis, a trader – had ingested some of the drugs and concealed part of it in their luggage.
NDLEA spokesperson, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, said the suspects were caught during the screening of passengers on an Emirates flight from Dubai.
Ahmed Garba said the suspects are currently being grilled.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects were promised N500,000 each to smuggle the drugs from Dubai to Nigeria. Their trip was fully sponsored by an unidentified drug trafficking organisation.
However, efforts are ongoing to trace and arrest their sponsors. Martins is married with five children while Louis is married with three children. They are blaming poverty for their action.
Echezona told officials of the agency in his statement:
“I am a driver but I have been out of job for a while now. I have been searching for job and my condition was so bad that I could not feed and discharge my responsibilities as a husband to my wife and father to my children. This was the reason I went into drug trafficking. I did it in order to survive the economic hardship.”
Louis also attributed his involvement in drug trafficking to poverty:
“I used to sell jewellery but I have lost everything including my shop due to family problem. I feel ashamed that I cannot take care of my family and pay the school fees of my children,” he said.
The new NDLEA Chairman, Muhammad Abdallah, has ordered a speedy investigation of their cases.
nice.
ReplyDeleteBusinessblogmoney.com