Friday, August 22, 2014

I didn’t know I was carrying cannabis – Suspect



Cannabis woman
 
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency attached to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos have arrested a 37-year-old woman, Ifeoma Ezeh, for attempting to smuggle cannabis weighed 6.2 kilogrammes to China.
Our correspondent learnt that two parcels of cannabis were seized from the mother of three who pretended to be carrying vegetables rather than drugs.
It was gathered that the officials discovered the dried weeds inside the 37-year-old suspect’s bags while screening the passengers on board the Ethiopian Airline.
Eze, who sells female dresses at the Onitcha Market, said she was taking ‘the vegetables’ to one of his customers in China where she used to export foodstuff.
She said, “I am a businesswoman and I sell women clothes at main market Onitsha. I usually export foodstuff to China and import female dresses to Nigeria. One of my customers in China called me that his brother will give me two parcels of vegetables to take to him. I collected the parcels at the airport from the boy. Unfortunately, when they tested it, I was told that it was cannabis.”
In a statement, the NDLEA Commander at the MMIA, Mr. Umar Hamza, confirmed the arrest of the suspect, who hails from Anambra.
“We have arrested a businesswoman, Ifeoma Ezeh, with dried weeds that tested positive for cannabis. She declared the content of her bags as vegetables and foodstuff but during search, the vegetables turned out to be cannabis weighing 6.2kg. The drug was packed in two parcels with each bag containing a parcel. The suspect said the person that gave her the parcels told her it was vegetables,” Hamza said.
The Chairman of the agency, Mr. Ahmadu Giade, urged members of the public to learn lessons from those arrested for drug trafficking.
He said, “It is important for members of the public to learn from her experience and shun drug trafficking. This woman and mother of three children would have been killed in China for drug trafficking if she was not apprehended here.”
Giade added that the suspect would soon be charged to court for unlawful possession and attempt to export cannabis.
 
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