Nigerian Widow Caught as she Resorts to Desperate Measures as a Cocaine Courier

Almost every day, I read of some interesting ways people use to traffic drugs; inserting drugs into the hair, swallowing drugs, mixing it with food ingredients, lining it inside shoes, bags, packaged and manufactured items etc, and each time, I marvel at the cunning means they employ to traffic these drugs. Despite the fact that they are caught time and time again, people don’t relent and keep employing different means.

However, the recent arrest of a 48 year-old widow Mrs. Mande Fatima Bala who was caught with 66 wraps of methamphetamine weighing one kilogramme in her private parts at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos is quite disturbing.

Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA arrested the suspect last weekend when she attempted to board a Kenyan Airways flight to Nairobi.

Mrs. Bala is a 1992 graduate of Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University.

NDLEA Commander at Lagos airport, Hamza Umar, said: “This is incredible. She was desperate, but I am happy that she was promptly detected. No suspect has ever inserted such a large quantity of drugs in his or her part in the country. Usually, cases of insertion are not more than 300 grammes. It is amazing.”

Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive of the agency, Mr. Ahmadu Giadem, said everything about the suspect was disturbing.

He said that the quantity of the drugs she inserted in her private part was so much that it affected her gait thus attracting attention of officials of the agency.

“Unfortunately, nemesis caught up with her when one of the wraps fell on the floor at the screening area as she bent down to pick up her belongings. Upon interrogation and examination, she confessed to the crime, stating that she was asked to swallow the drug, but was scared of death. In all, 66 wraps of methamphetamine with a total weight of one kilogramme was expelled from her private part.”

Giade also noted that preliminary investigation carried out by the agency revealed that she lived in Australia for about two years before she was deported in 2010.

Narrating her ordeal, the suspect, Mrs. Bala, a mother of three children and a widow, said she was lured into the act of illicit drug trafficking in order to pay her children’s school fees.

“I am a widow with three children. It was N45,000 school fees for my child and my landlord who is threatening to send me packing by July for not paying my rent pushed me into drug business. I was instructed to swallow the drugs, but I was scared because I have never seen drugs in my life.

“I used to sell water and drinks after my husband died in an auto accident in 2007. Few years after, I lost everything and could not feed. I studied accountancy, but I have never practiced.

“I was given the drug in a hotel. I was afraid of death because I have heard of people dying because of drug ingestion, so I decided to insert the wraps on my body. It was difficult because I could not walk normally, but I have to try my best to avoid suspicion. I have nobody to take care of my children.”

Amazing! 1kg of cocaine in her private part. Surely this must have some health risks, right? But whether it is so or not, I can’t help but wonder, was it desperation that led her to this?

What do you think about the means she tried using to traffic the drugs? What do you think about her confessional statement and her reasons for attempting to traffic the drugs?

On the other hand, why do you think news about drug trafficking is so common in Nigeria? People are caught every day, yet more and more people keep trying other means to traffic these drugs. Do you think stiffer penalties should be given to those caught?

Please share your thoughts.

News Source: Vanguard