Grandmother arrested for concealing cocaine in herb

Attempt by a 65-year-old grandmother, Hassan Abike, to smuggle 1.74kg of cocaine concealed in herbal syrup containers to London has been foiled by the officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Abike was to board a British Airways flight on Wednesday when she was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

According to a statement by the spokesperson of the NDLEA, Mitchell Ofoyeju, on Thursday, the suspect packed the drug in balloons and placed it in 10 plastic containers of herbal syrup.

He said the drug which was found in her bag tested positive to cocaine and weighed 1.74kg.

Ofoyejo quoted the Airport Commander, Hamza Umar, as saying that the suspect was also found carrying two passports bearing her name with numbers A03348648 and A3771781 when she was arrested.

Umar reportedly said, “The cocaine found in her possession was packed in balloons and prepared into the shape of the plastic bottles.

“It was also wrapped in black polythene inside 10 plastic bottles of local herbal mixtures. Each bottle was neatly sealed to avoid suspicion.”

Ofoyejo said the suspect admitted ownership of the drug, adding that she claimed, “it was given to her by a male friend to give to his sick relative in London.”

The NDLEA spokesperson added that the Chairman/Chief Executive of the agency, Ahmadu Giade, had directed that her claims be investigated to ascertain her role in the incident.

He explained that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.