By Jimoh Babatunde
Five suspected drug traffickers were arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos by officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for attempting to traffic 6.490kg of powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine.

This is coming on the heels of the death of a 50-year-old suspect who died last week from drug ingestion in the custody of NDLEA.

The NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, Hamza Umar, disclosed that three of the suspects were nabbed on the notorious Brazil route while attempting to smuggle the deadly substance into the country.

According to a release made available to journalists, the Head, Public Affairs, Ofoyeju Mitchell, the three suspects apprehended on the Brazil-Nigeria route are Okafor Sochukwu Benjamin, 48 years found in possession of 1.715kg, Onuzulike Onochie Emmanuel, 34 years caught with 1.200kg and Osuolale Taofeek Olamilekan, 39 years that had 1.155kg.

He disclosed that they were all nabbed during the inward screening of passengers on Iberia flight, while the other two suspects, Martins Henshaw David, 33years had1.120kg while Okorie Okorie Agbai, 48 years ingested 1.300kg on their way to London.

“All the five male suspects in the dragnet of the NDLEA said the love of money made them to indulge in the criminal act.”

Hamza while noting that the red alert declared on the route by the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA , Ahmadu Giade is still in force, he said Okafor Sochukwu Benjamin an auto parts dealer at trade fair complex Lagos lives at Aguda, Surulere with his wife and four children.

“The suspect who left Nigeria on December 25, 2010 said that drug trafficking was his last option to settle his domestic bills.

“I do not want to steal, rob or kill to make money, drug trafficking was the only option that I preferred.”

Okafor Sochukwu Benjamin was quoted as saying that he was given assurance that he will not be caught if he can swallowed 1.5kg cocaine and that he will be paid half a million naira.

“I struggled to ingest 80 pellets weighing 1.715kg in order to get money to pay my rent and settle the children’s school fees” Okafor stated.

Onuzulike Onochie Emmanuel who had spent over 7 years in Brazil was quoted as saying that frustration made him to indulge in drug trafficking. He was said to have ingested 78 wraps of substance that tested positive for cocaine weighing 1.200kg.

“I need to fight for my future and take my destiny in my hand. Since 1998 I have been struggling with nothing to show for it. I spent seven years in Abidjan and another seven years in Brazil just to make ends meet yet it has been a story of stagnation.

That was how I made up my mind to join others because I was ashamed to come to Nigeria empty handed. My target was to start my life with the 4,000 dollars they promised to pay me” Onuzulike lamented.

Osuolale Taofeek Olamilekan who worked in Brazil for three years as a cleaner said “I was only expecting N250,000 naira to add to my capital. I swallowed 92 wraps of cocaine just to shore up my capital base because I want to be importing shoes from Brazil to sustain my wife and three children”.

For Okorie Okorie Agbai an importer of upholstery materials, he attributed his present predicament to the criminals that kidnapped him and collected 800,000 naira from him in 2010. “I was kidnapped and I paid a ransom of 800,000 naira to secure my release. That was the beginning of my problem that made me to get involved in this mess. I have never imagined myself in detention”

However, the Chairman of the NDLEA Ahmadu Giade refuted the claims of the suspects stating that there are several legitimate options open to them to earn a good living.

According to Giade, “drug trafficking is a criminal offence. It is wrong for anybody to consider drug trafficking as the only way out of financial crisis. The suspects know better now because if you seek their opinion, they will tell you that they have compounded their problems”.