I didn’t know my friend’s suitcase contained cocaine, says traveller

Juliana Francis

 

A 38-year-old man, Okorie Cyprian Raymond, arrested for attempting to smuggle 12.05 kilograms of cocaine into Nigeria has denied knowing that the suitcase his friend gave him contained parcels of cocaine.

 

The drug, which weighed 12.05 kilograms was carefully packed in drink sachets of pineapple and lemon flavor and concealed in the aforementioned suitcase.

 

Okorie had already claimed his luggage upon arrival and proceeded to the NDLEA screening point where it was detected that one of his bags was stuffed with prohibited drugs suspected to be cocaine.

 

Okorie, a school certificate holder, has been a resident of Sao Paulo since 2015 where he worked as a technician in a brass installation Center.

 

Okorie said: “I didn’t have knowledge of what was in the bag. Oga Uche brought the suitcase to me at the airport just an hour before the flight take-off. This short interval did not give me the opportunity to scrutinize the bag. I had to leave my bicycle spare-parts business in Nigeria for greener pastures in the USA, but opted to travel through Brazil, Mexico to America. My journey was aborted in Mexico from where I was returned to Brazil where I was granted asylum.”

 

He was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Command, Abuja.

 

According to the national spokesman of NDLEA, Jonah Achema, Okorie was arrested during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airline flight 911 from Sao Paulo, Brazil en-route Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

 

Achema said: “He claimed that the drug consignment was given to him to deliver in Nigeria by one Uche whom he met in a church in Brazil about three months ago through a friend. Okorie said Uche overheard him talking to his friend about his impending trip to Nigeria and urged him to assist him take the suitcase to Nigeria.”

 

The NDLEA Commander, Abuja Airport, Kabir Sani Tsakuwa, noted: “The 12.05 kilograms of Cocaine is one of the highest quantities seized by the Command in recent times. We promised all travellers, involved in drug trafficking that they will not escape our dragnet. We will continue to sustain our vigilance.”