From Bola Ogunlayi, Ibadan
The Ibadan zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has discovered attempt by a 60-year-old Muyiwa Otuyalo, to smuggle in a substance suspected to be a hard drug for his son, Damilola Otuyalo in the custody of the commission.
He has since been arrested and set to be prosecuted alongside his son, Damilola.
The older Otuyalo, a fish-farmer, was at EFCC’s premise for visitation to his son when he allegedly committed the offence.
While discussing with the son, an officer noticed that he brought out a sachet of tablets and handed same to him.
The officer subsequently raised an alarm which led to the confiscation of the drug.
The in-house nurse was called upon for an assessment of the content, and it was discovered that the said item was Rohypnol, a tranquilizer used under strict prescription for treatment of severe insomnia and for assistance in anesthesia.
The drug is said to possess a high sedative effect and is rarely used except when prescribed by licensed medical officers.
The younger Otuyalo was recently arrested after a criminal case of money laundering detected in the United Kingdom was levelled against him.
The case which involved £45,000 was a fragment of a wider one involving about £500,000 for which he has been declared wanted by the London Metropolitan Police.
The suspect has been on the wanted list of the International Police (Interpol), before the petition was filed at the EFCC, Ibadan zonal office.
Officers of the Nigerian Interpol were already in contact with the commission in respect of the said case before the suspect’s father attempted to smuggle in the hard drug for him.
The EFCC said the father would be handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for necessary action.