Female Pilgrim excretes 32 wraps of Cocaine at Lagos airport

isaac dachen

June 9, 2017 2:21 PM

A 52-year-old woman going on a supposed pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has been nabbed for drug trafficking.

Modinat Owolabi was nabbed trying to traffic drugs to Saudi Arabia

A 52-year-old woman,

According to the NDLEA, Owolabi, a single mother of four, was intercepted at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), after she was caught by the scanners of the agency and after being placed on close observation, she excreted 32 wraps of the substance which tested positive for Cocaine.

It was gathered that Owolabi, an indigene of Kwara State, was nabbed during the outward screening of passengers on a Qatar Airline flight to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj after testing positive to drug ingestion.

ALSO READ: "Good For You: Female pilgrim who was caught with cocaine gets 10 years"

Investigations revealed that she had ingested the substances that tested positive for cocaine weighing 330 grammes.

The suspect who claims she hawks tea and bread in Lagos said she was given the sum of N300,000 to smuggle the drugs to Saudi Arabia under the pretext of going for pilgrimage.

It was learned that the suspicion of the NDLEA operatives was raised as she was going to travel as a private pilgrim and not as a group.

During interrogation, Owolabi reportedly said that poverty led her into drug trafficking.

"I have never traveled outside the country before now. I am a single mother of four children. I sell tea and bread to earn a living. At present, I have no money to continue with my tea business due to family problems.

A man met me and promised to help me by sponsoring my trip to Saudi Arabia. As a Muslim, I was happy but he later asked me to swallow the drugs.

I agreed because he promised to pay me N300,000. I have too many problems and nobody is willing to help me."

ALSO READ: "Drug trafficking: Woman vomits fifteen wraps of cocaine at Abuja airport"

Confirming the incident, the NDLEA commander at the Lagos Airport, Ahmadu Garba, said that this was the second arrest of a pilgrim at the airport on the same crime.

Garba gave the name of the earlier arrested suspect as Odeyemi Omolara Morayo aka Ariyo Monsurat Olabisi, who was caught with 1.595kg of cocaine on her way to Saudi Arabia in February.

isaac dachen