Why I used 10-year-old niece as drug courier – Lagos trader
9th August 2023
Suspected female trader, Taye Abass, who allegedly trafficked a hard drug known as Colorado through her niece (name withheld) to evade police checks has been nabbed by the Lagos State Police Command
The woman who confessed to the offence while being paraded by the police at the state headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday lives in the Oko Oba area of Lagos.
According to her, she always used the girl to transport the drugs from their house to her shop to avoid being checked, as no one would suspect a small girl.
She said, “When I went to Ilorin, my mother asked me to bring her with me to Lagos about two months ago. I sell drinks. When she got to my place, feeding was hard. Where I usually take my drinks for sale, somebody then introduced me to Colorado that I should be selling it. He told me the police always arrested people selling it. So whenever I am taking the drinks for sale, I usually put it (the drug) in her underwear, and ask her to put it in the shop where I always collect it back from her.”
The woman who pleaded for leniency, begged for forgiveness saying it was because of hardship, adding that other accomplices had run away.
Speaking, the underage girl said she was brought to the police station and when she wanted to bathe, the drug was found on her body.
“I told them it is my sister’s mum that put it on me. She started putting it on me when I came to her place.
“She used to sell it but I don’t know those that do come to buy it. She tells me she puts it on my body because the police cannot search me,” the girl said.
Addressing the press, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the suspect was arrested through the collaborative efforts of the public and the police.
Hundeyin said, “This shows the success the collaboration with the public is yielding. The girl was found roaming the street and a good neighbor brought her to the station so she was taken to the station where she complained that she was being maltreated at home, and she ran away while running an errand. While she was being made to have her bath and change her clothes, it was discovered that the drug was hidden in her panties and that prompted further questions.”
“We extended the investigation to her home and we were able to bring her guardian to the station at the Pen Cinema Division. She did not deny it; she admitted that had been her way to courier the drugs from her home to her shops
The PPRO however said the girl will be handed over to her family and the suspect will be prosecuted accordingly,
