[b]A husband and wife, who were heavily pregnant with cocaine have been delivered of ‘their babies’ at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), in Lagos.

The couple, who allegedly ingested 1800 grammes of cocaine, had flown into the country on a South African Airline, the Commissioner of Police (CP) at the airport, Mr Jonathan Johnson, told reporters yesterday.

According to Johnson, the suspects, whose names were not mentioned, had flown in from Venezuela as husband and wife.

Shortly after their arrest and the induced delivery of the 1800 grammes package, the police handed the suspects over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for further investigations.

“We were able to arrest them based on information we received. We hope that the NDLEA is still going on with its investigations,” Jonathan said.

Confirming the arrest, the NDLEA revealed that its agents at the MMIA, also held another drug dealer, who attempted to smuggle 1.937 kilogrammes of cocaine to Frankfurt, Germany.

The suspect, Utubor Godwin, 30, with international passport number A00084414 tested positive to drug ingestion on June 11 at the central screening area, at about 7.13 p.m., during the outward clearance of Alitalia passengers.

Narcotic agents later found out that Godwin had once been arrested at the Lagos airport, on September 13, 2007, for ingesting 1.387 kilogrammes of cocaine. He was sentenced to five months imprisonment by Justice Mohammed Abdul of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos.

NDLEA spokesman, Mitchell Ofoyeju, said: “Few months after serving his jail term, Godwin, who is apparently undeterred by the five months sentence, went back into the criminal act with a sense of aggression. This time, he ingested 105 wraps of substance that tested positive for cocaine weighing 1.937 kg, with an estimated street value of about N22 million in Lagos.

“The suspect has owned up to the crime stating that it was a mistake and a big shame. He said that he could not talk, claiming that God knew how he resisted the temptation. They promised to pay him 5000 Euros.”

A father of two, the suspect sells used tyres at Ladipo Market, Lagos and resides at 5, Oni Street, Egbeda, Lagos. He hails from Esan Central in Edo State.

According to Ofoyeju, investigations of 17 drug cases recently decided at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, revealed the main reason why drug convicts and couriers are actually attracted to the money-spinning crime despite concerted efforts by the anti-narcotic agency.

He said that of the 17 cases examined, four of the convicts caught with 29.9 kg of cannabis, 150 grammes of cannabis, 200 grammes of cannabis and 1.472 kg of heroin, got the highest sentence of three years each.

One convict caught with 900 grammes of cocaine was sentenced to two years and another found with 61.5 kg of cannabis got 15 months imprisonment. Four others bagged one year imprisonment each and one of them was fined N200,000 in addition. Three were sentenced to nine months while two others got eight months each. Another got seven months.

Three convicts got six months, one got four months and two, three months, while two other persons, found with 400 and 500 grammes of cannabis, got two months imprisonment each.

Worried by the development, the NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade, said that the trend was frustrating the country’s efforts in counter-narcotics. He argued that the greatest incitement to crime is the hope of escaping punishment and that for crime to reduce, the punishment must be seen to be commensurate, so as to correct and deter rather than induce crime.

The NDLEA boss also opposed death penalty for drug crime stating that capital penalty has become unfashionable in the world today.

“We are all stakeholders and the judiciary has a major stake. The profit in illicit drug trade is large while the punishment is mild. This problem of light sentences for drug convicts is fundamental and the sooner we appreciate our individual responsibilities the better,” Giade said.

While commenting on the amendment Act of the Agency, Giade said that the process of amendment was on-going but stakeholders must look inwards.

Besides some gray areas that have to deal with asset forfeiture, the Giade said, “The issue of punishment is very clear. The NDLEA Act prescribes 15 years minimum and 25 years maximum. There is no perfect law anywhere. Under the Agency’s Act, we have had sentences of 15 years and above.”

During his meeting with reporters, Johnson vowed to stamp out crime at the airport. He disclosed that his men also detected some black spots, including a Suya spot at the airport and on the Oshodi /Airport Road, where they have now mounted surveillance.

He said that about 17 arrests had been made and suspects charged to court, since he assumed duty about three weeks ago.

As part of efforts to wipe out crime at the airport, Johnson said he had also set up a task force, with officers that would be in mufti, at the arrival and departure halls of the airport.

Police in Yenagoa say they are trying to establish the culpability of a suspect held over the assassination attempt on Governor Timipre Sylva’s senior special, assistant on youth and conflict resolution, Mike Wenibowei.

Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Mr. Dave Akinremi told reporters that although they recovered two pump action rifles from Famous Daunemigha’s premises, they might not be the guns used in the attack.

Akinremi also said that the victim of the assassination attack, Wenibowei, had identified Daunemigha as one of the two persons with the gunman at the time of the incident on Thursday, June 4.

It is still unclear why Daunemigha was arrested, but sources said it might be in connection with issues arising from a press interview he granted some journalists. The police are now holding him over the assassination attempt on Wenibowei.

Akinremi explained that the pellets picked up at the scene of the attack were AK 47 pellets and only ballisticians at a forensic laboratory would be able to determine if any of the two rifles displayed were used in the assassination attempt.

He also stated that no bullets were found in the search, disclosing that the suspect had also denied ownership of the two rifles police allegedly found in his premises.

But Daunemigha’s lawyers said the two pump action rifles were planted on the premises of their client.

Osom John-Jacob Makbere said they were ready to contest the police allegations through the legal process, as there was no material thing in the police case against his client and that they were only trying to curry media sympathy.

On police disclosure that the victim had identified his client as one of those with the gunman, Makbere said the victim had sounded more than ambiguous as a day earlier, had said one of the persons resembled his client.

He reiterated that the state government was behind Daunemigha’s travails, lamenting that government had turned out to be something not worthy of its definition by trying to destroy his client’s wine bar business and surveillance job with Saipem.

Makbere described Daunemigha as a civic person, whose civic nature attracted political appointment from Governor Sylva. He said that he was also a one-time vice president of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC).[/b]