I never knew it was risky, says man who ingested 80 pellets of hard drugs
If not for the intervention and empathy shown by the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), 55-year-old Kouassi Jean Paul also known as Eze Ikechukwu who swallowed 80 wraps of methamphetamine, would have been dead by now.
Paul was arrested on June 10, 2019 during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airline flight to Jakarta, Indonesia, by officers of the NDLEA on suspicion that he was carrying some substances. After some medications were administered on him, he excreted 79 pellets of the hard drug.
However, the NDLEA was convinced that some substances were still stuck in his stomach and in order to save his life, the command, on the insistence of the Commander, Mr. Garba Ahmadu, took him to a medical facility where he was operated successfully and the last wrap stuffed in his stomach removed. Incredulously, Paul had no idea how many wraps of the substances he ingested.
Paul’s case stood out among the 64 suspects the command arrested between January and August 2019 when 260.202 kilogrammes of drugs comprising cocaine (20.360 Kg), heroin ((15.040)), cannabis sativa (112.242); methamphetamine (84.920) and ephedrine (28.140) were intercepted.
The NDLEA insists Paul was particularly fortunate that the last pellet stuck in his stomach which would have burst after a few days, was removed successfully through surgery.
The NDLEA Commander said: “On June 18,
2019 CT scan was carried out on the suspect at LASUTH. The suspect was examined by a team of top medical specialists who recommended an advance scan and on June 26, 2019, the advance body scan called Endoscopy was carried out at AFRIGLOBAL MEDICARE Diagnostic Centre in Ikeja.
“Surgical operation was carried out on the suspect on June 27, 2019 and the remaining one wrap trapped in his system was extracted while he was discharged on July 15, 2019.”
He pointed out four cases in the past where the four people who were confirmed to have ingested drugs as the scan indicated died of complication in the process of removing the items.
It would be recalled that on May 5, 2012, one Ozoani Sunday Edwin who was arrested during inward clearance of South African Airways flight from Brazil collapsed inside the cell and was rushed to the hospital where he later died and autopsy confirmed he died of Cocaine toxic. On November 2017, a Port Harcourt-bound passenger identified as Azuka Philip Esolonu, also passed on at LASUTH after ingesting 82 wraps of substance later confirmed to be cocaine.
According to the commander, there were other cases like that where the suspects involved died of complication.
Paul is also considered more fortunate that he didn’t leave the shores of Nigeria before being caught as Indonesia, which was his final destination, has an existing law in place stipulating death sentence for convicted drug peddlers.
The suspect, who narrated his ordeal to our correspondent, said it was after his arrest in Nigeria that he was made to realize that peddling banned items to Indonesia was like “death warrant.”
Paul, who said he was selling phone accessories at Alaba International Market, was introduced into drugs by a friend he told about his declining business. Without knowing he was taking the deadliest risk of his life, he had merely told his family that he was travelling to Indonesia but the family had no inkling about his mission.
“I have not done this before. I was seeking for help from hardship when I ran into those guys. So they said they would support me with my ticket fare and BTA but I have to take this thing (the methamphetamine) and drop it for them. At a stage, I had no option and I never knew it was a dangerous adventure. Now, I have seen the implication and I’m advising others not to try it because it is deadly. If not that God used the commander to save me, I wouldn’t be alive today.”