Nigerian busted for swallowing 78 pellets of cocaine

A Nigerian cleaner who was busted for swallowing 78 thumb size pellets of drugs suspected to be cocaine appeared before an Accra High Court on Friday. Igwe Godfrey Frank is charged with importation of narcotic drugs without license and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority. The court reserved the plea of Igwe and remanded him into custody till January 14, 2014. Prosecution said witnesses in the case were operatives of the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) stationed at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA). On December 9, this year, operatives of NACOB accosted Igwe who had arrived from Sao Paolo, Brazil on the suspicion that he was carrying drugs. According to prosecution, the accused arrived on board Egypt Air Flight number MS 881 via Ethiopa Cairo-Accra. Igwe then confessed to the operatives that he had swallowed some pellets. However, when he was searched 40 thumb size pellets were found on him and at the NACOB headquarters he expelled 38 pellets. During interrogation Igwe stated that on December 7, this year he received a telephone call from his sister Oyle Igwe that his mother had been attacked by armed robbers and killed. Igwe then contacted one Mbawoe his Nigerian counterpart who promised to offer him One million naira but on condition that he delivered cocaine to some unknown person in Accra. He therefore swallowed some of the pellets and kept some in his belonging. Prosecution said Mbawoe then offered Igwe a ticket and on December 8, this year, he set off from Sao Paolo to Ghana. According to prosecution the substance had been forwarded to Ghana Standard Authority for examination.