Nigeria politician tells cops he swallowed 2 kilos of cocaine to smuggle to fund election bid

Nigeria politician caught with bellyful of cocaine

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s drug enforcement agency says it has arrested a politician who allegedly swallowed 2 kilograms (nearly 4.5 pounds) of cocaine to fund his election campaign.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said Monday it arrested 52-year-old Eme Zuru Ayortor at Lagos’ Murtala Mohammed International Airport. The agency says the pharmacist-turned-politician was trying to board a flight to Germany when a scanning machine detected an abnormality in his stomach.

Agents say they found 100 individually wrapped packages of cocaine inside his body. The agency says the politician claimed his failed 2007 run for the Edo state House of Assembly ruined him financially and smuggling drugs was the only way he could fund his 2011 election bid. He has yet to be charged.