Published 24th Sep, 2022

By Tola Owoyele

Benjamin Nwaogwugwu, a Nigerian caught with cocaine worth £80,000 at a Manchester Airport in June, will spend over four years in prison.

According to Daily Mail UK, Nwaogwugwu, after ingesting the drugs, flew 5,000 miles from South America to Paris, and then to Manchester on the pretext of returning from a UEFA Champions League final.

The 43-year-old Nigerian was, however, detained on arrival at the airport, when officials noticed he was grimacing in pain as a result of the unease he felt from the ingested drugs. When he was taken to the hospital, it took two days before he could be purged of all the cocaine he had swallowed.

The 19 packages he ejected were taken to the laboratory for analysis, and it was discovered that their purity level was up to 89 percent. The packages were said to be worth £80,000.

During confession, Nwaogwugwu claimed he was pressured into becoming a drug mule by Colombian gangsters who promised to look after members of his family residing in Nigeria.

Further investigation later revealed that the Colombian cartel had exploited an EU freedom-of-movement loophole to smuggle the drug into Europe via French Guiana, which is used by cartel bosses as a gateway to Europe due to it being an overseas department of France.

Nwaogwugwu was sentenced to four years and two months in prison by a crown court in Manchester after he pleaded guilty to importation of cocaine.

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