Lagos (WorldStage Newsonline)-- A 25 year old Nigerian, Chilaka Ogbonna Emmanuel, suspected to have ingested some wraps of substances that tested positive to narcotics has died onboard an aircraft on his way to Malaysia enroute Doha
Ogbonna who travelled with a Nigerian international passport, left Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Tuesday August 2, 2011.
The sudden death of the suspect forced the pilot to divert the flight to Mumbai, India, where Ogbonna was confirmed dead in a Mumbai hospital.
A post mortem conducted on the late suspect revealed that he had ingested narcotics. Mumbai police found an Italian visa application form and his Catholic baptism certificate in his bag.
NDLEA sources said nobody has come forward as a relation of the suspected drug trafficker who hailed from Okpofe, Mbaise Imo State.
Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Ahmadu Giade has ordered a probe into the death.
Giade who lamented the rate at which Nigerian youths died as a result of ingesting hard drugs, described the incident as sad and unfortunate.
"This is sad and unfortunate. It is one death too many. I want to know exactly what happened and take proactive action against future occurrence. I have ordered full investigation of the incident and I am expecting a detailed report in few days". NDLEA boss said.
Giade equally reiterated his call for stringent measures against drug culprits. "This is a wake-up call for stakeholders to heed our call for tough measures against drug offenders. The increasing number of arrests made by the Agency speaks volumes of the punishment meted to drug offenders. Even when we oppose bail application for second time offenders, they still grant them bail. These are the people that smear the image of our country for their selfish interest". He added that over 68 drug suspects apprehended at the Lagos airport between January and July 2011 and charged to court are currently on bail."
NDLEA statement noted that the monetary reward for drug trafficking is high and to discourage people from the criminal trade, the punishment must be commensurate. This according to the anti-drug Agency is imperative and will drastically reduce the number persons that get involved in drug trafficking
Recently a suspected drug trafficker Offiah Gozie Vincent who was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos died few days later in a Lagos hospital.
Ofoyeju Mitchell, Head, Public Affairs of the agency who confirmed the story said, "Authorities are working on how to contact relatives of the deceased who is from Okpofe, Mbaise Imo State."
Source: http://www.worldstagegroup.com
