NDLEA arrests Saudi Arabia-bound grandmother with cocaine

A fifty-seven year-old grandmother and textile merchant at Balogun market in Lagos has been caught with a substance suspected to be cocaine, which she was said to be smuggling to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The suspect identified as Odeyemi Omolara Morayo, who claimed to be going on a pilgrimage to Jeddah, was said to have all the paraphernalia of a pilgrim, save for the narcotic content of her luggage, was nabbed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

NDLEA’s commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba, explained that the two parcels of white powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine were carefully concealed inside her luggage.

“A female passenger, Odeyemi Omolara Morayo, with a valid Egypt air ticket from Lagos to Saudi Arabia has been arrested with 1.595kg of cocaine. The cocaine, which was concealed in a false bottom of her bag, was discovered during a routine check on passengers at the departure hall. We had to cut the bag open to recover the cocaine because of the way it was neatly concealed. She was immediately arrested and the case is currently under investigation,” a statement by the agency alleged.

In her statement, the suspect, who hailed from Ogun State, was reported to have said that her friend and customer was the one that introduced her into drug trafficking.

She was allegedly said: “I am a textile merchant at Balogun market, Lagos. I have two children and my daughter is married with children.

“Recently, I told my friend that I loved to go on pilgrimage this year and she promised to sponsor my trip. That was how she collected my international passport, processed my travel documents and bought return ticket on Egypt airline.

“The only favour she requested from me was that I should take a bag to Saudi. She also told me that somebody will collect the bag from me at Jeddah. It was an empty bag, so I kept my personal effects inside it. On getting to the airport, officers discovered cocaine inside the bag during search and I was arrested.”

In his reaction, the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Colonel Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, described the suspect’s action as condemnable.

“Smuggling cocaine to Saudi Arabia under any guise is condemnable. It is good that she was arrested here because drug trafficking attracts capital punishment in Saudi. Apart from saving her from execution in Saudi, the prompt arrest also protected our country from disrepute. The Agency will not relent in the fight against illicit drug production, trafficking and abuse,” Abdallah stated.

Odeyemi’s arrest came only few days after Justice B.O. Quadri of the Federal High Court Abuja, sentenced a 55-year-old female pilgrim, Binuyo Basirat Iyabo, to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour.

Binuyo, was caught last September smuggling 76 pellets of cocaine weighing 931 grammes to Medina, Saudi Arabia.