by Rachel Ogbu

“I sell electronics in Lagos but I lost $11,200 (N1.78m) to fraudsters. This affected my business and in the process of trying to get money to revamp my business I was introduced into drugs,” a 33-year-old father of two has said after he was nabbed with 126 ingested wraps of heroin.

“If I had succeeded, I would have been paid N1.8m. I spent only one week in Pakistan. My only regret is my pregnant wife who is due to give birth soon.”

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency arrested Nweke Nwobodo at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

According to reports, the drug, which weighed 2.225kg, is the highest single ingestion since January 2013.

[READ: To the ‘High’ Court: NDLEA takes student to court for smoking Indian Hemp ]

The Punch reports:

NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, Mr. Hamza Umar, said narcotic officials placed the suspect on observation when he tested positive to drug ingestion during the inward screening of Qatar Airline passengers on his way from Pakistan.

The Ebonyi State indigene however said he joined the illegitimate business because he was duped of his money and needed to recover it.

The NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade, expressed concern on the risk of drug ingestion.

“The ingestion of drugs by traffickers is very disturbing because many have died in the process. Just a wrap is deadly and here we have one person ingesting 126 wraps of what could take his life in a few minutes. Members of the public should shun drug trafficking and report any suspected trafficker to the agency,” he said.

The NDLEA boss said the agency would continue to frustrate any move to raise capital from drug trafficking.