Women Beware: insertion of cocaine into private part is risky

Emeka Ibemere, reports on the dangers of inserting of cocaine in private parts to evade arrest by women in drug deals.

Insertion of cocaine in private parts by desperate women trafficking in illicit drug business is becoming a trend in our country.

Despite the health risks involved in the unwholesome act, more and more women are still indulging in the ‘killing mode of concealment’ as an avenue to beat the prying eyes of the operatives at the airports, seaports and land borders. Investigations have revealed that women who insert cocaine in their private parts to evade arrest are at the risk for a rotting flesh.  

Also, it is not clean and can have other agents that can cause them to have a low white-cell count or skin tissue death, epidemiologist has suggested.

 According to Chukwudi Dike, this is because almost 60 percent of the cocaine coming into this country has what called levamisole.

The polythene cello- tape or sanitary pads used in wrapping the cocaine before inserting it in their vagina part contains toxic material that is known as levamisole.

 The epidemiologist also stated that sores noticed on vagina involve a breakdown in the walls of the fine membrane of the vaginal wall when in contact with chemical.

He disclosed that most common of these are abrasions and small ulcers caused by trauma. While these can be inflicted during rape, he added that it’s mostly actually caused by excessive rubbing from clothing or improper insertion of a sanitary tampon or object.

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported in late 2009 on a cluster of cases of problems with white blood cell counts linked to cocaine use. Called agranulocytosis, the condition occurs when bone marrow fails to make enough white blood cells. The report noted that levamisole was found in some of the people with agranulocytosis and cocaine exposure.

Reports said women skin is the largest organ in their body, and also the thinnest. According to the report, less than 1/10th of an inch separates women body from potential toxins. Worse yet, their skin is highly permeable — especially the skin around their vaginal area, not to mention inside the vagina itself. The report warns that attention needs to be paid to the ingredients used in tampons and sanitary pads.

It reported that most items that come in constant contact with women skin will end up in their bloodstream and distributed throughout their body. This is why experts advocate that one doesn’t put anything on their body that they wouldn't eat if you had to.

Putting cocaine material on one’s skin may actually be worse than ingesting them. When cocaine is ingested, the enzymes in saliva and stomach help to break it down and flush it out of your body.

However, when chemicals come in contact with women skin, they are absorbed straight into their bloodstream without filtering of any kind, going directly to their delicate organs. And once these chemicals find their way into their body, they tend to accumulate over time because they typically lack the necessary enzymes to break them down.

Many women use countless sanitary pads to conceal their drugs before inserting it in their body but how hygienic is the sanitary pad used in wrapping the cocaine.

According to research, each conventional sanitary pad contains the equivalent of about four plastic bags. With everything we now know about the hazardous nature of plastic chemicals, this alone is cause for concern.

It was also learned that plasticizing chemicals like BPA (bisphenol A) and BPS (Bisphenol S), an organic chemical compound that disrupt embryonic development and are linked to heart disease and cancer. Phthalates — which give paper tampon applicators that smooth feel and finish — are known to dysregulate gene expression, and (diethylhexyl phthalate), DEHP, may lead to multiple organ damage. Besides crude oil plastics, conventional sanitary pads can also contain a myriad of other potentially hazardous ingredients, such as odour neutralizers and fragrances.

Synthetics and plastic also restrict the free flow of air and can trap heat and dampness, potentially promoting the growth of yeast and bacteria in your vaginal area.

In spite of these visibly health hazards and against this backgrounds, a desperate 36 year old woman inserted 685 grammes of cocaine and was headed to Nigeria from Ethiopia. But on landing at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, and during inward screening of passengers on an Ethiopian airline flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia she was quizzed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), operatives.

“Chinelo Okorom Lynnette, 36, and a food vendor in Lagos was prevented from smuggling 685 grammes of cocaine inserted in her vaginal”, Anti-narcotic operatives’ Spokesperson, Mitchell Ofoyeju stated.

NDLEA commander at the airport, Mr. Hamza Umar said that the suspect ingested few wraps and inserted others in her vaginal.

“The suspect tested positive for drug ingestion and vaginal insertion. She however expelled a total of 685 grammes of substance that tested positive for cocaine while under observation at the airport,” Hamza stated.

In her statement during interrogation, the suspect disclosed that she was deceived into drug trafficking under the guise of importing female bags.

 “I am a food vendor at Ajangbadi, Lagos and have never been involved in crime. I am a victim of man’s cruelty to man. My husband abandoned me with four children two years ago. I work hard to pay their fees and ensure their proper upkeep. The last straw that devastated me was when the landlord forcefully ejected me”, she stated.

“I had nowhere to turn to for solace. I was crying like a baby when a man came to console me. I have never met him in my life. He asked me to wipe my tears and promised to introduce me to importation business. I felt he was God sent until he sponsored my trip to Addis Ababa. When I got to Ethiopia, he told me to take cocaine to Nigeria. Initially I disagreed but he threatened to recover his investment at all cost,” the suspect stated.

Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade said that drug traffickers always change routes and tactics. “Going to Addis Ababa to smuggle cocaine into Nigeria is one of the tricks employed by drug trafficking syndicates. Cocaine is not known to come from Addis but we were able to detect it because of our vigilance”, he added.

 “We are prepared to counter the activities of drug kingpins and bring them to justice. We look forward to fruitful progress in our investigation”.

The NDLEA boss urged members of the public to be cautious of the tricks employed by drug syndicates adding that the suspect’s action is shameful. The suspect would soon be charged to court.

Last two years, another woman was nabbed for inserting 66 wraps of cocaine inserted in private part.

NDLEA officials at the screening section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos were stunned at the discovery of 66 wraps of narcotics testing positive for methamphetamine. The 48 year old Mande Bala was immediately arrested by officials of the NDLEA before she could board a Kenyan Airways flight to Nairobi on the 15th of June, 2012.

The NDLEA Commander at the airport, Hamza Umar, confirmed the arrest and said the quantity of drugs that Bala had inserted in her private part was so much that it affected her way of walking, drawing the attention of the NDLEA officials.

According to Umar, no suspect has ever inserted such a large quantity of drugs in the country. He disclosed that usually, cases of insertion are not more than 300gramm. “The discovery was shocking”, Umar said. It was gathered that in all, the 66 wraps of methamphetamine pulled out from Bala’s private part weighed 1kg.

Bala claimed to be a widow and mother of three. She said that she was pushed to trafficking in drugs in order to raise school fees for her children. “I am a widow; my husband died in 2007. I have got three children to take care of.  I need N45, 000 to pay some fees for my child and I also had to take care of my rent because I have a quit notice to leave my house in July. I was actually supposed to swallow the drugs but I was too scared to do so”, she added.

“I then decided on my own to hide them instead in my private parts because I was scared I would die if I ingested the drugs. I have heard such things happen. Although it was difficult for me to walk, I had to do my best because there is no one else to take care of my children.”

Giade described the incident as disturbing. “Apart from the quantity of drugs caught with her, her route is a new development in drug trafficking. Drug barons now adopt a relay approach to drug trafficking. They wanted to use her to take the drug to another African country before using an indigene of that country to take the drug to other continents, where the profit is higher. We are not oblivious of their moves and we are prepared to nip them in the bud,” he said.

According to the agency, no suspect has ever inserted such a large quantity of drugs in her private part since the establishment of the NDLEA in 1989. The suspect, who is a graduate of accounting from a South-West university, lives at Ijoko in Ogun State and is a native of Lagos Island in Lagos State.

UNODC World Drug Report 2010, reports in their yearly World Drug Report that drug trafficking is a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. UNODC is continuously monitoring and researching global illicit drug markets in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their dynamics. Drug trafficking is a key part of this research. Further information can be found in the

At current levels, world heroin consumption (340 tons) and seizures represent an annual flow of 430-450 tons of heroin into the global heroin market. Of that total, opium from Myanmar and the Lao People's Democratic Republic yields some 50 tons, while the rest, some 380 tons of heroin and morphine, is produced exclusively from Afghan opium. While approximately 5 tons are consumed and seized in Afghanistan, the remaining bulk of 375 tons is trafficked worldwide via routes flowing into and through the countries neighbouring Afghanistan.

The Balkan and northern routes are the main heroin trafficking corridors linking Afghanistan to the huge markets of the Russian Federation and Western Europe. The Balkan route traverses the Islamic Republic of Iran (often via Pakistan), Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria across South-East Europe to the Western European market, with an annual market value of some $20 billion.

The northern route runs mainly through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (or Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan) to Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. The size of that market is estimated to total $13 billion per year.

In 2008, global heroin seizures reached a record level of 73.7 metric tons. Most of the heroin was seized in the near and Middle East and South-West Asia (39 per cent of the global total), South-East Europe (24 per cent) and Western and Central Europe (10 per cent). The global increase in heroin seizures over the period 2006-2008 was driven mainly by continued burgeoning seizures in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey. In 2008, those two countries accounted for more than half of global heroin seizures and registered, for the third consecutive year, the highest and second highest seizures worldwide, respectively.

In 2007 and 2008, cocaine was used by some 16 to 17 million people worldwide, similar to the number of global opiate users. North America accounted for more than 40 per cent of global cocaine consumption (the total was estimated at around 470 tons), while the 27 European Union and four European Free Trade Association countries accounted for more than a quarter of total consumption. These two regions account for more than 80 per cent of the total value of the global cocaine market, which was estimated at $88 billion in 2008. For the North American market, cocaine is typically transported from Colombia to Mexico or Central America by sea and then onwards by land to the United States and Canada. Cocaine is trafficked to Europe mostly by sea, often in container shipments. Colombia remains the main source of the cocaine found in Europe, but direct shipments from Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia are far more common than in the United States market.

Following a significant increase over the period 2002-2005, global cocaine seizure totals have recently followed a stable trend, amounting to 712 tons in 2007 and 711 tons in 2008. Seizures continued to be concentrated in the Americas and Europe. However, the transition from 2007 to 2008 brought about a geographical shift in seizures towards the source countries for cocaine. Seizures in South America accounted for 59 per cent of the global total for 2008, compared with 45 per cent in 2007.