Drug traffickers conceal hard drug in male condoms

Condom has found a new use

Drug traffickers who smuggle heroin into the country now ingest liquid cocaine poured into male condoms

Male condom does more than prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

This was disclosed by officers of the National drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) who said male condoms have become objects used by desperate drug traffickers to conceal liquid cocaine.

This revelation was made following the arrest of four suspects recently at the Murtala Mohammed Interenational Airport in Lagos.

According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Mitchel Ofoyeju, this new method by traffickers is the first in the history of the country as the anti-narcotic agency spread its dragnet on drug barons and traffickers in and around the country.

“Some of the late tricks uncovered by Nigerian anti-narcotic agents include the arrest of drug traffickers who smuggle heroin into the country from Tanzania.

In addition,drug couriers now ingest liquid cocaine poured into male condoms for the first time. These tricks were uncovered at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport(MMIA) Lagos,” Mr. Ofoyeju said.

NDLEA Commander at the airport, Hamza Umar, gave the names of the four suspected drug traffickers.

Two suspects, Ezeani Obinna, a 28 year old auto dealer at Ladipo market and Ozoemena Okoye Samuel, 27 year old dealer in electrical parts, both in Lagos, were arrested with heroin from Tanzania while two others, Egbo Innocent Oluchukwu and Ejimbe Christian Chidi allegedly ingested liquid cocaine concealed in male condoms to avoid detection.

Mr. Hamza said, “The suspects thought that scanning machine will not detect liquid cocaine but they were wrong. Even those coming from Tanzania felt that there would be no attention on them. We shall continue to do our best to prevent traffickers from using this airport."

According to Mr. Hamza, the suspects from Tanzania were detected during screening of passengers on Kenyan Airways while the others arrived from Venezuela with emergency travel certificate aboard South Africa Airline.

“This is the first case of liquid cocaine ingestion in the country. The liquid cocaine which is oily was packed inside condoms. Egbo Innocent Oluchukwu a 43-year-old trader excreted 70 wraps of the oily cocaine weighing 2kg. Ejimbe Christian Chidi, a 32-year-old teacher swallowed 54 wraps of same oily cocaine weighing 1.350kg.”

Egbo lived in Venezuela for ten years . He arrived the country with an emergency travel certificate number 00000600 as he said he was lured to traffick liquid cocaine by a Venezulan drug cartel . “The Venezuelan who gave me the drug told me that it will be difficult for machine to detect liquid cocaine that is ingested. I ingested 70 wraps of the drug using water because I was desperate. It is not that drug trafficking is a good thing but I wanted to solve my personal problem. They promised to pay me the sum of 6,000 dollars. I am married with 2 children and I need the money to cater for my family,” Egbo said.

The other suspect, Ejimbe, is from Anambra State. He teaches English at a Language School in Venezuela. He is single and claimed to have lived in Caracas, Venezuela, for eight years. “I am a 2002 graduate of the University of Maiduguri. I excreted 54 wraps and they promised to pay men N4 million. My intention was to get married and settle down."

Reacting to the arrest, the Chairman/ChiefExecutive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ahmadu Giade urged regional anti- narcotic agencies to be deeply involved in counter narcotic operations in African.

“Heroin is usually smuggled from Pakistan, Iran and India but things are changing with the seizure of heroin coming from Tanzania. This is strange because they have turned drug trafficking into a relay race. The first set of traffickers will smuggle heroin from Pakistan to Tanzania while another set will take it from Tanzania to Nigeria. This is a new plan to evade arrest but we shall now beam our searchlight on African flights,” Mr. Giade stated.

Mr. Ofoyeju said the suspects would be charged to court after thorough investigation.

Lagos carnival showcases magnificent costumes, designs, acrobatics

The carnival has reinvented itself

Nigeria can stop importation of finished products, says Fashola

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has stated that the importation of finished products is not the solution to Nigeria's challenges of industrialization.

Mr. Fashola disclosed this, Monday, at the third edition of Lagos Carnival.

The 2012 carnival tagged 'Eko for Show', a spectacular display of magnificent costumes, designs, and acrobatics; brought the week long Lagos Black Heritage Festival to a breathtaking end.

"The Lagos Carnival has grown in its three years of existence by reinventing itself and drawing more participants and spectators each year," said Mr. Fashola.

"It has become a vehicle through which the creativity of designers and resourcefulness of the young men and women of the Lagos State Skills Acquisition Centres, in which all the costumes are produced, are exhibited," he added.

With vehicular traffic restricted towards and around the Tafawa Balewa Square venue of the carnival; the morning road show by some of the participants donned in flamboyant costumes and dancing to music from loudspeakers livened up the quiet ambience of the usually boisterous Island.

Inside the venue, the 50,000 capacity Square gradually filled up with spectators, mostly young people, amidst heavy presence of armed police officers and state security agents.

"The traditional pride and dignity characteristic of Lagosians of old is back in our daily expressions and aspirations, we are expressing who we are naturally- an industrious people; full of pride and confidence," said Mr. Fashola.

Apart from a stray police horse which scared some early comers outside the venue into a near stampede as it was chased around by a horse riding police officer, and some area boys who tried to molest visitors but were promptly hounded into a waiting Black Maria; the carnival was relatively hitch free.

Dozens of secondary schools across the state as well as some local councils took their turns to parade around the Square showcasing their costumes, and in some cases, graceful dance moves and acrobatics.

Music blared from giant loudspeakers meant that the spectators, who later invaded the Square, danced along on the stands.

The state's aim of making the carnival a private sector driven event in future may have received a huge boost with an appreciable presence of corporate sponsors like MTN Telecommunications, Nigeria Breweries, amongst others.

After the parades, and the ushering in of Mr. Fashola, who arrived in the middle of the ceremony, music took over and the now uncontrollable crowd went wild.

"Today is a very fun day for me," said a LAGBus driver who identified himself simply as Mike.

"It is not everyday you have a chance to see all these things," he added.

Funke Akindele Messed Up By Bouncer At AY Show

It was a very bad day for top actress, Funke Akindele as she was disgraced at AY comedy show held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos yesterday night. According to an eyewitness account relayed to Nigeriafilms.com, Funke was stopped by a bouncer at the entrance for her invite, but she pulled the "do u knw who I am? Stunt Nigerian celebrities always pull when stopped for checks. We were told that it took the efforts of some people, who told the bouncer who Jenifa, as Funke is fondly called, was. Do you think the bouncer was right to have asked Funke Akindele of her pass? Or, was he just following protocols?

Naeto C weds Nicole Chukwueke (wedding Photos)

Their traditional wedding held today in Owerri. Their white wedding will hold July 21 2012. Congrats to them.

Student escapes after four days in ritual killers’ den

Adeleye on hospital bed

A student of Business Administration, Kwara State University, Malete, Mr. Rilwan Adeleye, escaped death by a whisker after four days in suspected ritual killers’captivity. Narrating his miraculous escape to our correspondent in Ilorin, Adeleye said on March 29, he boarded a taxi cab at Challenge Junction, Ilorin, Kwara State, en route to Taiwo Road, Ilorin.

He said:

I wanted to go and withdraw some money my father had sent to me. I stopped a taxi cab, which had two other passengers, and told the driver that I wanted to go to somewhere around Taiwo. On our way, the driver took a wrong route. So, I challenged the man and asked him why he wanted to pass through that way. The man said he wanted to avoid the traffic hold-up. That was all I could remember.

Adeleye said he later became unconscious, only to find himself in an uncompleted building.

He added that his captors took him to a room in the building and drew his blood with a syringe.

He said, “Later, when I started recovering, I could faintly remember that they took me to an uncompleted building. Then I found myself in a room. I was the only person inside.

“I noticed that someone came in and drew blood from my body with a syringe.”

According to him, some of his captors came later and beat him mercilessly to the extent that he sustained a fracture in his arm.

21-year-old Adeleye said it was apparent by the anger of the ritual killers that his blood was not accepted for ritual purpose.

After much beating, he said his captors took him to a roadside and dumped him there but his friends saw him and took him home.

He stated that the whole incident lasted for four days; from March 29 to April 1.

He advised people to avoid “get rich quick” mentality and stop killing and maiming innocent people for rituals.

Adeleye’s uncle, Mr. Aranse Oluwa, corroborated the survivor’s narration.

He stated that the family members were rattled when they did not see Adeleye, who had told them he was going to withdraw some money from bank.

Oluwa said it was a relief to the family when Adeleye spoke with a family member on the phone after his release.

He said they had been frantically searching for him when he did not get back home on time.

Oluwa said, “He told us three people abducted him; two in front seat of the taxi and one other person, who sat with the victim at the back seat.

“His friends saw him along the road unconscious. They had to buy cold water and poured it on him to revive him before they later took him to a hospital.”

Culled from Punch

Photos from Karen Igho's birthday party

Mr Gay World Pageant holds in Africa for the very first time

The gay pageant held last night in Johannesburg, South Africa. And for the first time since its inception, two black Africans participated in the pageant. Wendelinus Hamutenya, a 23-year-old nurse and midwife from Namibia (pictured on the left) and an Ethiopian graduate student named Robel Hailu, (pictured on the right) whose family disowned him after they found out he was planning to participate in the gay pageant.

Gay men from 22 countries took part in this year's Mr. Gay World 2012 and Andreas Derleth of New Zealand (pictured on top) was crowned the winner.

Mr Gay World Pageant holds in Africa for the very first time

The gay pageant held last night in Johannesburg, South Africa. And for the first time since its inception, two black Africans participated in the pageant. Wendelinus Hamutenya, a 23-year-old nurse and midwife from Namibia (pictured on the left) and an Ethiopian graduate student named Robel Hailu, (pictured on the right) whose family disowned him after they found out he was planning to participate in the gay pageant.

Gay men from 22 countries took part in this year's Mr. Gay World 2012 and Andreas Derleth of New Zealand (pictured on top) was crowned the winner.

Nicki Minaj Talks Lady Gaga Comparison (Annoying) and Wardrobe Malfunctions (Devastating)

Don't call her Gaga Reloaded.

Nicki Minaj, whose performance at the Grammys this year was meant to shock and get people talking (let's see, where have we seen that before...), didn't appear to take kindly during her sit-down with Nightline to questions about the inevitable comparisons made between her and Lady Gaga.

At least, the interviewer certainly seemed to think the comparison was inevitable.

"Offends me, no. Irks me, yes," Minaj said when ABC's Juju Chang asked if the Lady Gaga comparisons do, indeed, offend the similarly flamboyant hip-hop star. "We are in completely different lanes."

"First of all," the "Super Bass" artist said defiantly, "I'm a rapper. I'm from southside Jamaica, Queens. I could say some really crazy lyrics right now, but I won't. Why don't I turn the cameras around and ask you?"

So, Chang, not wanting to point out that Lady Gaga's a native New Yorker, too, mentioned that they both wear wigs.

"Wigs?" Minaj retorted. "Every female in this game—every female in this game—wears wigs."

Um...the clothes, then?

"Over-the-top costumes?" she replied skeptically, making a buzzer sound. "Try again!"

Despite her aversion to being compared to Gaga, however, Minaj had kind things to say about her fellow star.

"Gaga's a fantastic artist, you know, she paved her way," she added. "She's opened her own lane. But I think that I have my own lane, and we never cross. Ever. So, you know, I really don't get the comparison anymore. Our music doesn't sound the same. Our stage presence is not the same. I just can't see the similarities."

A similarity she admits to, meanwhile, is the one between her Good Morning America performance last summer and her appearance on the Today show last week: she suffered nipple-flashing wardrobe malfunctions during both!

"That was devastating," Minaj said. "I feel bad...I always put myself in the parents' shoes when stuff like that happens. But I know that I would never, ever, ever—swear to God—do something like that on purpose."

"Sometimes I want to just pull the off-switch," she said of her rapid ascension up the fame ladder. "But you can't because if you go outside, you have to give people your all. You can't say, 'Oh, you know what? I'm not feeling good today.' No. No one's trying to hear that. When a woman comes up to you and says, 'Hey, my daughter's your biggest fan. Can we have a picture?' You can't say no."

True. All you can do is load up on the double-sided tape, take a deep breath and walk out that door.

The Game Stops Concert to Help Out Fainting Fan

This is really cool of The Game to do. Just when you think he’s too gangster to care about much he stops a show to help a fan that passed out. Here’s the video of what went down that night.

Brooklyn man shoots helpless MS wife, self

For years, Vincent Tropeano watched helplessly as multiple sclerosis ate away at the body of his frail wife, Elaine.

First she needed a cane, then a wheelchair.

Eventually she became a prisoner in her hospital bed on the first floor of their Brooklyn home, where she suffered the indignity of no longer being able to use the bathroom.

It all became too much to bear yesterday when the 74-year-old husband saw their health worker changing his wife at around 7 a.m. He completely snapped.

“Do you want to go out like this?” a naked Vincent asked his wife as he wielded a .32-caliber derringer, a law-enforcement source said.

The home aide, Rose Hall, fled the house under Vincent’s orders. She called 911 in tears.

By the time officers arrived at the Bergen Beach home, the couple was dead — Elaine face up with a gunshot to the head and Vincent on the bedroom floor with a self-inflicted wound, sources said.

“After being married that long, you would think they would be in love,” said Hall, 56, who had been working for the Tropeanos for only two days.

“But if he could kill her like that, I couldn’t call that love,” Hall told The Post.

Neighbors said the couple had been married at least 35 years, with two grown sons, Vinny and Steven. Their East 69th Street home is filled with pictures of children and grandchildren.

“She was his whole world,” said Nathan Bershadsky, who had known them for 11 years.

The couple used to enjoy traveling together but Elaine began to wither away from multiple sclerosis about 20 years ago.

Usually talkative and friendly, she went from a cane to crutches, and then could no longer walk and was bound to a wheelchair.

This year, Elaine’s condition worsened, and she entered a rehab facility. Vincent pulled her out a month ago because he wasn’t happy with her care there.

“He always had a smile on his face. I never heard him complain,” said Sydelle Mann, 74, who had known the Tropeanos for more than 35 years.

“Oh, my heart is broken. This is what you call a love story.”

Just last week, Vincent built Elaine a ramp in front of their home so Hall could take her outside.

“He was committed to her. You could see the love between them,” Mann said.

Vincent always stayed within shouting distance in case his wife needed him, Bershadsky said.

Despite his commitment, Vincent was worried about her.

“He would say there’s nothing that’s ever going to change, it’s only going to get worse,” Bershadsky said.

Vincent had been telling his kids recently that he was going to kill her and himself, sources said.

He was overwhelmed because Elaine was no longer able to handle their bills, the sources said.

On Tuesday, cops seized eight rifles and two shotguns from the home, and he was issued a summons for not having a permit.

On Friday, Vincent was “distraught and very nervous,” said neighbor Lou Drucker, 80. “He kept walking around, back and forth, in circles. I knew there was something wrong with him.

Man drowns trying to save family at Florida's Honeymoon Island

A man drowned while trying to save a family struggling in rip currents at Florida's Honeymoon Island State Park.

Two children and their parents got caught in rip currents at the state park in Dunedin on Sunday, MyFoxTampaBay.com reports.

The man, whose identity has not been released, swam out to help, but he quickly was caught in trouble as well. The family was rescued by a boater, but the man later died at Mease Dunedin Hospital.

The incident remains under investigation by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Calls seeking comment early Monday by FoxNews.com were not immediately returned.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that rip currents have been strong off the state park for several days.

Whitney Houston’s School Underwhelmed By Donations

The Administrators at the New Jersey school named after Whitney Houston say that they are underwhelmed by donations received following the singer’s death. Her family had request donations be made to the school in lieu of flowers. The Whitney E. Houston Academy of Creative and Performing Arts has received $40,613.

That amount includes a $25,000 donation from Sony Music and $10,000 donated by Beyonce and Jay-Z. School district accountant Felicie Desroches says she thought the donations would be more because Whitney had so many fans. The principal says plans to use the money to establish a scholarship and update performing arts equipment.

In related news, New Jersey taxpayers are said to be upset at the nearly $199,000 in police overtime for security during Whitney’s funeral.  The police racked up overtime to provide weeklong security for the singer’s family, celebrities and her funeral service. That also included $9,000 for police to handle traffic at Fairview Cemetery.

Gunmen hold up sleeping man, girlfriend

A 36-year-old man who left his front and bedroom doors open while he slept was accosted by two masked men on Saturday night.

Police reports are that around midnight Auldim Slater was asleep with his girlfriend, Sade Williams, 23, at his home at St Andrew Park West, Mon Repos, when he heard noises in the house.

The men, dressed in dark clothing, and armed with a fireman entered the bedroom and demanded property and jewelry. Slater fought one of the men, jumped through an open window and raised an alarm.

The men left the premises, exiting through the front door and entered a waiting vehicle.

Corporal Elbourne and a team of officers from the Mon Repos Police Station visited the scene and searched for the suspects in vain.

Slater was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where he was treated for his injuries. PC Emrith is continuing investigations

DEATH AFTER CHURCHCouple die as van jumps median, crashes into car

BRIAN Mario Bovell and his wife, Savitri, were on their way home from church yesterday, when a van crossed the median of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway in St Augustine and crashed head-on into their family car.

The collision left two dead and two others fighting for their lives.

Brian, 62, died on the spot.

Savitri, 55, died while undergoing emergency surgery at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) in Mt Hope.

Ian Corbin, the driver of the van which crossed the median, and Dominic Ali, the van's front seat passenger, were both listed in critical condition at the EWMSC up to press time last night.

It was a fatal end for a Sunday that started ordinarily enough for the Bovells. As they did on most Sundays, the Bovells went to church.

The couple went to fellowship at their home church—the Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall in El Dorado.

After the service ended, the Bovells left El Dorado and were on their way to their family home at Belle Smythe Street in Curepe.

Brian was driving on the West-bound lane of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, with Savitri in the front passenger seat.

Around 12.30 p.m., things took a fatal twist.

At the same time the Bovells were headed west, Corbin and Ali were headed east.

As the Bovells neared the Helping Hand Ground in St Augustine, Corbin lost control of the van he was driving.

The van veered right, crossed the median separating the East- and West-bound lanes of the highway, and ended up in the path of the Bovells' car. Brian had no chance of swerving to avoid the collision, investigators said.

The car and the van then began a deadly dance on the highway. When everything settled, the Bovells' car was left facing east, while the van faced west—both in the opposite direction to where they had been heading.

Officers from the Tunapuna Fire Station responded to the accident.

Bovell was the driver of a maroon Galant station wagon, registration PAD 4654, and Savitri was his lone passenger. Corbin was the driver of a white Toyota Caravan van, registration TCC 4250. Ali, the lone passenger in the van, sustained facial injuries.

Officials used the Jaws of Life to free the Bovells from the mangled wreck. Savitri, Corbin and Ali were all rushed to the EWMSC, where Savitri later succumbed to her injuries.