Everything was fake. His name. His international passport. His country of origin. His place of birth, and the content in his stomach.
Umeme Lotachukwu Fabian, who is from Anambra state was travelling with an Ivorian international passport bearing the name Kolonga Grou Bi Clauvis.
It was all made up. Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos arrested the 33-year-old Nigerian man who claimed he was travelling to Soekarno–Hatta International Airport Jakarta, Indonesia, for business. But in reality, his business was narcotics concealed in his stomach.
The suspect, who claimed to be an Ivorian, was arrested while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Indonesia, said NDLEA spokesman, Mitchell Ofoyeju.
After he tested positive for narcotic ingestion, 89 wraps of narcotics found to be methamphetamine weighing 1.205kg was recovered from him, Mr. Ofoyeju said in a statement to THE SIMON ATEBA NEWS.
NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Ahmadu Garba, said preliminary investigation conducted by the agency revealed that the suspect hails from Anambra State with the name Umeme Lotachukwu Fabian.
Umeme Lotachukwu Fabian
He attended Boys Secondary School Onitsha where he graduated in 2007. After his secondary education, he started selling clothes at Onitsha main market before he travelled to India in search of greener pastures in 2013 and returned to the country in 2015. He also had an identity card claiming he is from Abidjan.
Umeme while under observation at the airport excreted eighty-nine 89 wraps of narcotics that tested positive for methamphetamine weighing 1.205kg. In his statement, the suspect said that he was offered the sum of five thousand dollars to smuggle drugs to Indonesia. “I am the only son of my parents. I wanted to invest the money in my clothes business and also commence preparation for my marriage in a bid to settle down in life. They offered me the sum of five thousand naira to smuggle the drugs to Indonesia” Umeme stated.
He also stated that he was not aware that drug trafficking attracts capital punishment in Indonesia.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (retd.) while expressing satisfaction with the arrest promised to investigate the identity falsification by the suspect. “This is a very dangerous development as the suspect could have been consigned to the gallows under a false identity”.
Abdallah warned that those contemplating drug trafficking must endeavour to avoid acts of criminality and have respect for the sanctity of their lives”.
The NDLEA boss promised to carry out detailed investigation on identity falsification and drug trafficking stressing that success against transnational organised criminal gangs demands effective collaboration with stakeholders. “Drug cartels can be very daring in their manipulation but we are poised to counter their devices. The Agency shall carry out a comprehensive investigation into this case in collaboration with relevant stakeholders” Abdallah stated.
The suspect will soon be charged to court.