Friends put drugs inside luggage – Nigerian
by Kelimen Sawatan. Posted on July 8, 2011, Friday
KOTA KINABALU: A Nigerian, who is currently tried for trafficking in 1,907 grams of syabu, told the High Court here that his so-called friends had put the drug inside his luggage while he was sleeping.
Businessman Kennedy Okwudili Nnadi, 38, said this was his conclusion after searching and trying to find out who had put the drug into his bag.
“For the past 11 months here I have been searching … trying to find out how this thing (the drug) gets into my bag. At the end of the day, I could reach one conclusion and one possibility which was on the night before I left for Kota Kinabalu, my so-called friends, the guys who had left the hotel room before I went to sleep, had planted this drug inside my bag while I was sleeping because from that particular time, there was no other time they were in my room while I was unconscious,” he said.
The accused from Nitel Road, Satellite Town Legos, Nigeria, was responding to a question from his counsel Zahir Shah who had earlier asked him to explain how the drug was found inside a zipper compartment of his luggage by Customs officers when he had reached Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) from Kuala Lumpur.
Kennedy was testifying before judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli while making his defence on a charge of trafficking the 1,907 grams of syabu at the arrival hall of Terminal 2, Kota Kinabalu International Airport at 1pm on July 23, 2010.
He is liable to the mandatory death sentence if found guilty of the alleged offence under Section 39B (1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.
Earlier, Kennedy told the court that he used to travel overseas to sell leather products, wristwatches, belts, wallets and other products.
He said he would put the items, especially the leather products, inside a zipper compartment in the luggage to avoid their smell from getting to his clothes.
Kennedy said after a meeting in Cameron, he travelled to Malaysia on July 13, 2010 and arrived in Kuala Lumpur three days later.
To another question by Zahir during examination-in-chief, Kennedy told the court that during the journey, he put all the leather products in the zipper compartment in the luggage.
Throughout his travel from Cameron and going through several international airports such Addis Ababa and Dubai before proceeding to KL, Kennedy said that he did not face any problem.
He said while in KL, he met a friend by the name of Mike who is also a Nigerian and other fellow countrymen by the name of Achi, John Sean, Obima and Agulu.
“We became friends immediately as we are in a foreign land and we felt like brothers,” he said, adding that he used to go out for drinks with John Sean and Agulu and enjoyed the night lights in KL as they were the ones who always picked and dropped off to his hotel where he was staying.
Kennedy testified that while he was going out with them, they kept saying about Sabah and Mount Kinabalu and told him that they had a friend in Sabah by the name of Paul, who would take care of him wherever he wanted to go.
A few days after that, Kennedy said he spoke to Paul who then told him about Kota Kinabau (KK) as being a nice place to visit before he left for Cameron.
“I told him that I would be coming to KK on July 22,” he said.
However, Kennedy told the court that the flight was delayed and he only travelled to KK the next da.
He said that he had also booked a return flight from KK to KL on the same day as he was planning to go back to Cameron on July 24, 2010.
“After that I went back to my hotel and upon arriving, I opened my bag to get some toiletries and took a shower and went out with my friends John Sean, Agulu and Mike,” he said, adding that when he left the room, he did not lock his bag and just left it there.
After going out with them, Kennedy said he went back to the hotel room after midnight.
“After that Mike, Agulu and John Sean came to my room and we were watching some programmes on the television,” he said.
Kennedy said he later went out to look for something to eat and returned to the hotel before eating the food.
“We chatted for sometimes and then I was feeling sleepy. I told them I wanted to sleep and told them to close the door when they were leaving,” he said.
When asked by Zahir about the accused’s bag, Kennedy said, “The bag was in my hotel room. It was not locked.”
Kennedy told the court that he did not lock the bag as he was in the hotel room and they were friends and felt like brothers.
“When I woke up on July 23, I proceeded to travel. I took my shower and put my things in the bag… then I picked up the bag and went out,” he said.
He said that he did not put anything in the zipper compartment of the luggage as he had already sold all his products while he was in KL.
Kennedy said that upon arriving at the KKIA, he contacted Paul and told him that he had reached the airport.
As he was about to proceed to the exit door, Kennedy said someone asked him to put the luggage to the scanning machine before the person told him that he wanted to inspect the bag.
He said that another person asked him to remove all the things in the luggage before he was brought to their office.
While in the office, Kennedy said one of the officers came and told him that he was from the drugs enforcement agency and asked him whether he had brought any drugs to KK.
“I said no and told them that I did not know about it. One of the officers opened the zipper compartment and took out some substance from my bag.
“I kept telling him that I don’t know about the drug but they did not listen to me,” he said, adding that he was then handcuffed.
When asked by Zahir whether the accused wanted to comment on the DNA expert’s testimony in relation to what he had explained to the court, Kennedy said, “The DNA expert’s testimony proves that someone or some other people got into my bag without me knowing it.”
“Before I left, I packed this bag myself and every other thing in the bag belongs to me expect the caftan which I was supposed to give to Paul. So I don’t see any reason why other people’s DNA was found in my bag except that someone or some people got into my bag,” he said.
To another question from Zahir, Kennedy said that he suspected that the DNA found on his items belonged to John Sean and Agulu as Mike had left the room when he (the accused) went to sleep.
“So it was just John Sean and Agulu,” he stressed.
The DNA expert during the prosecution’s stage previously told the court that there was DNA of between one to three persons found on Kennedy’s items such as clothes, books and toiletries which were kept in the luggage.
Deputy public prosecutor Naziah Mokhtar prosecuted the case.
