A 32-year-old woman, Stella Ezinwoke Chizoba, has said that operatives of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos were wrong to have arrested her with 3.75 kilogram of cannabis otherwise known as Indian hemp. Stella told newsmen that there was no need for the operatives to arrest her with the Indian hemp since she was on her way to New Delhi in India, the supposed home of Indian hemp. The suspect, who was of the opinion that Indian hemp that got its name from India can always be carried freely by people to that country, said the narcotic agents that arrested her had erred.

“Why should they arrest me with Indian hemp when I was on my way to India with their hemp? My arrest was wrong. If hemp is being taken to India, it’s like you are bringing Garri (course cassava flour) to Nigeria. Yes, my arrest could have been proper if they had arrested me on my way to another country where Indian hemp is foreign to them. Again, the arrest could have been proper if they had found me with cocaine or heroin and not Indian hemp on my way to India. Help me beg them to please release me. Let them show you my passport and ticket, it was India I was going to,” she said.

Stella who’s a holder of Nigerian international passport number A01213239 said she was a food vendor at Grill’, Lagos before her arrest. She was to board an Ethiopian Airline flight to Delhi in India when narcotics agents at the airport swooped down on her. She was found with 12 large wraps of Indian hemp in her luggage during the screening of passengers. She declared the contents as foodstuff at first, but during the search, 12 wraps of dry weeds in polythene bags found to be cannabis were recovered in her luggage that contained bitter leaf vegetables, dried fish, melon, crayfish and other food ingredients.

Stella, who also told newsmen that she carried the bitter leaf and other food items to conceal the Indian hemp and to avoid detection and arrest, lamented that her trick was not good enough to beat security checks at the airport. In a frantic effort to drag in the person that assisted her to procure the drugs in Lagos, Stella said she gave a young man living around her compound the sum of N15,000 to buy the drugs for her but the man allegedly bought Nl0,000 worth, saying she was going to make a very large gain from it.

Lamenting the alleged fraudulent deal by the person she sent to buy the drug for her, the suspect requested that he should also be arrested for Conspiracy.

“I gave the man in my neighbourhood N15,000 to buy the Indian hemp for me, but he bought only N10,000 worth and disappeared with my balance. I am still searching for him to collect my money. I was told that if I can smuggle the drug to India, there is much profit in it. If I had known I would be caught, I would have concentrated only on my foodstuff business. It was the high profit that made me to give it a trial. I actually underrated the security and the implication. If only they would let me go, I promise I will not involve myself in this deal again,” Stella stated.

She lamented that as a food vendor, she was an employer of labour with some boys and girls working under her. She said with her arrest, detention and possible prosecution, she may not recover and reintegrate into the society again. She said she does not consume drugs and has never traded in it before her arrest. She said her neighbourhood and the members of her church may be wondering about her involvement and sincerity, adding, “it is the work of the devil. I have never taken drugs in my life. Everybody should pray for me.”

But the Commander of NDLEA at the airport, Alhaji Hamza Umar, said ignorance of the law is never an excuse to the committal of any crime. The possession, consumption, cultivation, trading and even transportation of illicit drugs within the country or to any other country are offences before the law. He said that the Command is prepared to uncover any form of drug concealment at the airport, warning that the mere knowledge that someone is handling illicit drugs in any form constitutes an offence unless it is reported to the appropriate authority.

“We are prepared to frustrate drug traffickers by detecting their drugs, arrest and prosecute them accordingly. Others hoping to smuggle drugs through the airport now have the opportunity to shun the evil act. If they insist on drug trafficking, they are only risking detention, prosecution and possible conviction because we shall surely arrest them. The drug barons are aware that it is not possible for anyone to traffic in drugs across this airport. They all know that we have the best and most modern screening machines at this airport. Our machines don’t fail in detecting any form of drugs concealment. They are tested and trusted.

“When the barons realised they could no longer succeed in trafficking in drugs through this airport, they decided to be recruiting unsuspecting young men and women that they give fake assurances and push them only for those to be arrested and prosecuted. They are only wasting the future of such youths. And when they are recruiting and sending them on the errand, they do not allow them to know their names, phone numbers or addresses, so that when the couriers are arrested, they cannot trace them. However, we are doing everything possible to educate members of the public to avoid them and their juicy offers,” Hamza warned.

He said Stella, a single mother of a child and hails from Anambra State, will be charged to court as soon as investigations into her case are completed. He expressed concern over the continued involvement of women and youths in illicit drugs trafficking in Nigeria.