A Nigerian man nabbed at Washington Dulles International Airport with heroin pellets in his abdomen pleaded guilty to drug charges this week, making him the second man convicted in such a case in the past month.
Yomade Aborishade, 46, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to attempting to import a controlled substance.
He was arrested after he flew into Dulles from Ghana on March 30. Court records say Customs and Border Protection officers thought Aborishade was acting suspiciously and he was taken to Reston Hospital Center. Tests there showed that he had ingested 100 heroin pellets.
The pellets weighed 1.8 kilograms, or just less than four pounds, according to plea documents. CBP has estimated the street value of the heroin at about $129,000.
Aborishade faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years behind bars and could face up to life in prison, according to his plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 19.
The case was the second heroin-smuggling scheme thwarted at Dulles in one week in late March. Ebodor F. Okenwa was arrested after he arrived from Italy on March 24. He pleaded guilty last month, admitting that he swallowed 88 pellets that contained 1.44 kilograms — or slightly more than three pounds — of heroin, according to court documents.
