Monsurat Akinyemi, a 51-year-old grandma has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the Murtalla Muhammed International Airport, Lagos for being in possession of 180 grammes of heroin.
The suspect, a trader, was nabbed during an inward screening of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Entebbe, Uganda. She had four parcels of the drug in her luggage.
A statement by NDLEA spokesperson, Mitchell Ofoyeju, disclosed that the agency’s commander at the airport, Ahmadu Garba, said the suspect traveled to Uganda for one week and hid the drugs in her luggage on the way back.
“The case is under investigation and will be charged to court soon,” Garba said.
Akinyemi told investigators that her business had started to die and she needed the money to expand her business.
She said, “I used to buy female clothes from India for sale. However, due to family problems and the economic situation, my business started to die.
“I wanted to expand my business. I was introduced to drug trafficking by a friend who invited me to Uganda. I invested my $3,000 in the deal and expected that I would get $6,000 from it.
“I am sad that things did not go as planned. I am not a criminal. I just want to survive. When the drug was discovered at the airport, I felt as if it was all over for me.”