WIFE CAUGHT WITH DRUGS, TWO YEARS AFTER HUSBAND'S ARREST FOR TRAFFICKING

By NBF NEWS

Faith
About two years after Mr. Egba Emmanuel was jailed for drug trafficking, his wife, Faith, may be on the way to joining him in prison.

Faith, who has been taken care of the couple's four children since her husband was caught and subsequently jailed for trafficking in cannabis in June 2008, was recently arrested for a similar offence.

She was arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on April 9 while travelling to Ogbomoso, Oyo State. She had left her Ilorin, Kwara State residence with the plan to deliver 20 kilogrammes of cannabis of some individuals in the town.

NDLEA spokesman, Michelle Ofoyeju, who confirmed the arrest of Faith, said the evidence against the suspect was weighty. 'The wife is likely to join her husband in the prison if convicted by the law courts,' he said.

Now, Faith is worried that she might be jailed and is also bothered about the possible fate of her children.

An official of the NDLEA, attached to Oyo State command, who declined to speak on record because she was not authorised to do so said, 'The woman was just weeping profusely and calling her children's names. She was worried sick about them; I pity her.'

It was gathered that in her statement to the NDLEA operatives, she wrote that she took to the crime when things became difficult for her as a result of her husband's incarceration. 'After my husband was arrested, I was taking care of the family with the proceeds from my ware until I exhausted all my money. As a result, my father gave me N20,000 to enable me to pay my child's school fees, but I used the money to start the cannabis business,' she reportedly wrote.

The suspect also told the agency that that the profits she made from the sales of cannabis kept her in the business. 'I used the profit from the cannabis trade to take care of myself and the children. I sold cannabis for five months before I was arrested. I started the business in December but my intention was to quit in July 2010. My main worry now is my children' she wrote in her statement.

Ofoyeju said he was not impressed with the reasons given by the woman, 'Let her tell her story in the court,' he said, adding that the NDLEA Oyo State Commander, Alhaji Suleiman Jadi, also described the suspect's involvement in drug trafficking as sad.

'The commander said that it was sad that she failed to learn from her husband's mistake. He also warned the members of the public to shun the temptation to live on crime because they would be caught and dealt with according to the NDLEA Act,' Ofoyeju stressed.

Illicit drug trafficking has continued to be a rising national problem in Nigeria. A United Nations Drug Office and Crime report on the trade in Nigeria said the country started experiencing boom sales in 1990 when criminal groups trafficking in heroin, cocaine and other drugs took the centre stage. Since then, the trade has become more complex. According to the UNDOC, cannabis, heroin and cocaine are the most trafficked drugs in Nigeria.