by Stanley Azuakola

The story of Vincent Chegini Chinweuma, an Imo State indigene, is the story of how not to treat a roasted chicken. Chinweuma, an auto-technician, was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, when officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) discovered that he hid 2.655kg of cocaine inside a roasted chicken. Poor chicken!

Chinweuma had just arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil aboard a Turkish Airline Flight. The street value of the amount of cocaine he attempted to smuggle is a whopping N24 million.

The NDLEA airport commander, Mr Hamza Umar explained that the suspect had given investigators useful information.

“We discovered 2.655kg of cocaine hidden inside roasted chicken. It is a remarkable seizure because no one would have imagined cocaine worth several millions inside roasted chicken” Hamza stated.

Chinweuma had an interesting story to tell his interrogators.

According to him, “It took me three days to pack the cocaine inside the roasted chicken. I was confident that the drug will not be detected. I have been living in Brazil since 2006. Life has been stressful because I cannot even visit my wife in Nigeria due to lack of money. I wanted some money to start any business of my choice back home. Unfortunately, I was disappointed upon arrival in Lagos”.

On his part, the chairman/chief executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade said that the suspect would soon be charged to court. He said that spectacular seizures like this will help to discourage others from the criminal drug trade.

“The suspect thought his mode of drug concealment was perfect but we proved him wrong. Several drugs cleverly hidden by drug barons have been discovered and we shall continue to detect drugs regardless of the mode of concealment” Giade said.