A 55-year-old physically challenged Nigerian man identified as Ambrose Okeke Ifedilichukwe, has died while he was receiving treatment after he swallowed pellets of powdered substances suspected to be cocaine.
According to Ghanaian Times, Ifedilichukwe was arrested on Thursday, September 10, 2015 at the Kotoka International Airport, Ghana but he died in the evening hours of Saturday, September 12, 2015 after he underwent a at the 37 Military Hospital, where he expelled 46 of the pellets.
It was learnt that the deceased, during an interrogation by a Ghananian agency concerned with the formulation and enforcement of narcotics laws, The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), disclosed that he swallowed the substance so as to deliver it to somebody who agreed to pay $6,000 as a fee.
The Deputy Executive Secretary in charge of Enforcement at NACOB, Nii Lante Blankson, on Monday, September 14, 2015 disclosed that he suspected that some of the pellets might have burst in the stomach of the deceased which possibly led to his death.
He said Ifedilichukwe, who is physically-challenged, was on an Emirate flight from Cote d’ Ivoire en-route to Hong-Kong via Dubai, but while on the flight, the flight attendants noticed he was fidgeting.
On reaching the Kotoka International Airport, Mr. Ifedilichukwe, was handed over to airport officials who took him to the Aviation Clinic where it was observed that he had swallowed illicit substances.
Mr. Blankson said NACOB personnel on duty at the airport, were consequently informed of the situation and they went to the clinic to interrogate the suspect.
The deceased was taken to the Akai House Clinic at Cantonments, where an X-ray examination confirmed some substances in his stomach.
The medical officer on duty advised that the suspect expel the substances before he could be treated, hence he was taken back to the Aviation Clinic.
However, his condition got worse and he was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital where he was operated upon and finally died while receiving treatment.
