Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a 44-year-old father of three, Gabriel Patrick, for ingesting 96 pellets of cocaine, which he excreted in the custody of the agency.
Patrick, an indigene of Enugu North Local Government Area of Enugu State, was arrested, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja during an outward clearance of a Turkish airline at the boarding area of the airport en route to Abuja-Istanbul-Madrid
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, said the suspect had travelled to Germany in 1996 for two years on asylum after which he relocated to Spain in 1999, where he had a residence permit and worked as a driver in a food manufacturing company.
According to Babafemi, Patrick claimed he came into Nigeria on November 17 to sell the clothes and car spare parts he shipped to Lagos earlier.
He, however, said he could not sell his consignments, which cost him 4,000 Euros, excluding the cost of shipment, because they were priced below the cost price at the Ladipo Market in Lagos, adding that he needed to travel back to Spain to resume work at the expiration of his annual leave.
“This, he said, led him to accept an offer to traffic the drug for which he would be paid 1,500 Euros when he successfully delivers the consignment to someone in Spain.
“He claimed he left Lagos for Enugu to see his family members and then travelled on November 25 to Onitsha, Anambra State, where he was picked from Upper Iweka Park at night and taken to a house where he was given the 96 pellets of cocaine to ingest before leaving for Abuja to board his flight to Madrid the following day,” the NDLEA spokesman added.