16th May, 2011
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested a mother of two with 2.3 kilogrammes of heroin concealed in hand bags, the agency said this morning.
The 38-year old suspect, Ms. Olanrewaju Risikat Abiola, was arrested at the weekend at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, South West Nigeria during the inward screening of Emirate airline passengers from Bombay.
Abiola, NDLEA said, sells Indian clothes at Lagoon market, Nnamdi Azikiwe Road, Lagos Island.
In her confessional statement, Risikat stated that she was only helping the owner of the bag to bring it into the country.
“I was only helping my fellow trader and did not know that the bag contained drugs. I used to buy my wares from Togo and Benin Republic. During my first trip to Indian in February 2011, I met this Nigerian woman who also imports goods from Indian. When I got to Bombay during my recent trip, she requested me to assist her by bringing some of her goods. She opened the bags for me to see because they are new bags. I never knew that heroin was industrially packaged in six of the bags. It is obvious that a fellow woman had played on my intelligence,” she said.
—Simon Ateba