I went into drug trafficking to pay son’s medical bill-suspect

A 53- year-old computer instructor who was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, for allegedly importing heroin from Nairobi, Kenya, has blamed his indulgence on his inability to pay his son’s medical bill.

The suspect , Anukaenyi Bob-Manuel Ogochukwu, was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, during the inward screening of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight from Nairobi, after he tested positive for narcotic ingestion NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba ,disclosed that while under narcotic watch, the suspect excreted 66 wraps of powdery substance that tested positive for heroin. 

According to Garba,”During the inward screening of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight from Nairobi, Kenya, Ogochukwu was arrested for drug ingestion. He later excreted 66 wraps of heroin weighing 1.115kg”. But during interrrogation, the Anambra state -born computer instructor explained that he got involved in drug trafficking because nobody except drug barons offered to help him out of his financial predicament. 

He disclosed that his four-year- old son was at the moment on admission in Nairobi on a life threatening ailment. Stating repeatedly that he agreed to smuggle drugs to save his ailing son, Ogochukwu said : “I teach in a computer school at Onitsha, Anambra State. This is my very first time of having anything to do with drugs. 

I smuggled drugs to save my sick child. The doctor said that my child has a hole in the heart. I met many people for help but nobody was willing to help me except a drug baron. My son is currently struggling for survival at the hospital in Nairobi. A baron who is from Tanzania promised to pay me 2,000 dollars for my child’s medical bill.

 I am very worried about the condition of my son”, the suspect who is married to a Kenyan lady stated. Commenting on the arrest, the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Col Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (retd.) said that no excuse was tenable for crime. “No explanation is tenable for committing crime.

 Drug trafficking is a criminal offence and the suspect will be charged accordingly. The suspect’s action only complicated his condition because he is here facing a criminal charge while the responsibility of taking care of his sick son now rests solely on the wife” Abdallah stated. He will be charged for unlawful importation and possession of heroin and may get a minimum of fifteen years sentence”.Abdallah stated.