Juliana Francis
A Kenyan mother of two, Angela Wairimu (33), who was
arrested for being in possession of substances suspected to be cocaine, has
told anti-narcotic agents he took to the crime to offset her child’s medical
bill.
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency, (NDLEA) arrested Wairimu in possession of 6.5 kilograms.
Fielding questions from
operatives, Wairimu explained that she was on her second trip to Nigeria, to
procure home-made body beauty products and local fabrics for her enterprise
called La Model in South Africa and Kenya. She denied being under any financial
inducement but confessed that her daughter was suffering from acute leukemia
which put her under financial pressure.
The woman was arrested
at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA. She was alleged to have been
arrested while attempting to smuggle the illicit substance into Nigeria.
Wairimu, a single
mother of two children, was arrested on arrival from South Africa aboard an Ethiopian
Airline flight to Abuja.
Some of the illicit
substances were concealed in the false bottom of a travelling bag which also
contained two wrapped parcels of the same illicit drug. She carried the bag as
hand luggage.
The NDLEA spokesman, Jonah
Achema, said: “Wairimu, who shuttles between Kenya and South Africa claimed to
be a modelling expert and a trader in clothes and cosmetics. According to her,
a friend in South Africa approached her to assist an unknown person to deliver
the brief case containing wears in Nigeria, which was brought to her at the
Airport through an errand boy. She was to deliver the consignment to the
husband of the sender who was to meet her at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International
Airport, Abuja.”
According to Hamisu
Lawan, NDLEA Commander, NAIA, the seizure was the biggest Cocaine shipment in
recent times made by the Command.
Lawan added: “We have
had seizures of Heroin, Ephedrine and Methamphetamine going to Southern Africa and
in some cases to Asia, and even as far as the Pacific region such as New
Zealand, but we are not surprised at Cocaine coming from South Africa, which is
largely due to flight network connection, operating two flights daily from Sao
Paulo.”
The Commander canvassed
for the deployment of NDLEA in certain source countries as a matter of national
security interest.
He advised drug
traffickers to desist from testing the will of the Agency. “No matter the mode
used by drug traffickers to conceal illicit drugs, we are well trained to
detect it.”
He cautioned airport
employees to be cautious of “insider threat as this is what is making rip on/rip
off possible.”
He equally called for
the urgent implementation of Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger
Name Record (PNR) at the airports.
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