MAN SWALLOWS 71 WRAPS OF HEROIN

Lagos - Tragedy was averted recently by the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency (NDLEA), as 71 wraps of heroin were removed from the stomach of a
drug-trafficker through surgery in Lagos.

The 26-year old suspect, Okonkwo Ugochukwu, who was arrested on May 2, 2004
on arrival from Karachi, Pakistan, was said to have developed complications
while on observation because he could not excrete all the hard drugs he had
earlier swallowed to avoid detection.

According to Murtala Moham-med International Airport Comm-ander of NDLEA,
Alhaji Abdullahi Danburam, the suspect confessed to NDLEA officials that
the man that gave him the drugs made him to swallow 25 capsules of Flagyl
and some capsules of Tetracycline.

"It took the effort of our CCE, Alhaji Bello Lafiagi to pay the N120.000
medical bill to save his life. He had to be operated, when it was obvious
he was not going to excrete the substance naturally and his life was
threatened. I purposely called him out because of the fact that his own
case is a peculiar one."

"Although, he had earlier been able to excrete six wraps from his stomach
naturally, the effect of the 25 capsules of Flagyl and some capsules of
Tetracycline was too much for his system.

Why he was given these drugs was to prevent his excreting the drugs in the
plane. Because some of them have done so in the past. Some even
re-swallowed the substance excreted, while some put them in their shoes,
and others flush them.

"I guess this man did not want any of these to happen to his substance,
that was why he went all the way to ensure that he gave Ugochukwu all these
drugs, not minding its implications".