‘Why we inserted cocaine into our private parts’

Two women, who were arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for inserting suspected wraps of cocaine into their private parts, said they did to survive after their husbands abandoned them. One of them, Uzoma Alaka, 47, was found with 1.180kg of cocaine. She allegedly stuffed 260 grams of cocaine in her private part and ingested 60 wraps weighing 920 grams.

The second woman, Priscilla Chukwujekwu, 45, was caught with 1.455kg of cocaine. She packed 59 wraps on her body, inserted one parcel in her private part weighing 1.285kg and ingested 10 wraps weighing 170 grams. Alaka said she started selling bags and shoes after her husband abandoned her with seven children. The suspect said that her husband left her 10 years ago, since then she had been fending for the kids and paying rent and utility bills. She said: “I took loan to travel to China and in the process I incurred huge debt which compounded my problems. At a point, I had no money for food, school fees and even house rent. This was what made me to smuggle drugs. “I swallowed 59 wraps of drugs all through the night because of $6,000.

I also packed some in my underwear and one in my private part. It was a terrible experience. I feel so sad that I have to end up this way as a Christian.” On her part, Chukwujekwu explained that she embraced drug trafficking because she wanted to establish herself financially in order to take care of her children. According to her, she was married to a soldier, who abandoned her and their children 10 years ago. She said: “I got married early because there was no money for me to further my studies after my primary education. “My husband who is a retired soldier abandoned me 10 years ago. Since then my life has been sorrowful. I sell female clothes and shoes to take care of my children. “I met a man at the market who promised to assist me in my business by making me an importer.

This was how we began to talk on phone. He gives me recharge cards and money to sustain myself. “It was the day I was to travel that he told me that I will take drugs to China. He took me to a hotel where I was given the drugs and $6,000 to buy my goods in China.

I could only swallow 10 wraps, so I forced others into my private part and packed others in my underwear.” The Head, Media and Publicity, NDLEA, Mitchell Ofoyeju, said the two women were arrested for ingesting cocaine, hiding some in their underwear and inserting some in their private parts. He said: “The arrest has prevented the housewives from arrest and execution in China a few weeks after the Indonesian Government executed some Nigerians for drug trafficking.” The two women were found to possess 2.635kg of cocaine at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to China.