A Nigerian businessman carrying 110 wraps of cocaine worth £50,000 in his stomach during his Eurostar train journey from Paris to London on March 21, died because one of the wraps split open into his intestines, an inquest into his death was told during a hearing at St Pancras Coroner’s court on Monday.
The 43-year old Amsterdam resident, Ifeanyi Otuegbu, was found slumped on his seat by a female passenger after the train pulled to its final destination at St Pancras station on the said date. Although paramedics tried to revive him by administering CPR – artificial respiration – but he died on the train, the court was told. According to St Pancras coroner, Ms Mary Hassell, who recorded a verdict of accidental death, Otuegbu was killed as a result of a ‘massive’ ingestion of cocaine.
“He died as a consequence of the rupture of cocaine packages that he was body- packing on his journey from Paris,” she told the hearing.
Although the fellow passenger who raised the alarm had expressed concerns that there was a lack of urgency from the emergency services who walked to the scene, the coroner ruled that not only was their response reasonable, but that paramedics carrying heavy equipment need not tire themselves out by running. More importantly, the court also noted that it was unlikely that Otuegbu was to have been saved anyway as he had absorbed “far more than a fatal dose of cocaine.”
Otuegbu , who was described as a frequent international traveller, had visited London about 40 times in the last two years , and was known to have stayed at his sister’s place in Harrow during those period.
Detective Constable Michael Saunders, of the British Transport Police, spoke to The Guardian Friday afternoon without confirming that further investigations into the circumstances surrounding the death are ongoing.
However, he did say “the inquest is completed,” and that “at this point, I can’t say any further investigations are continuing. There will be statements to that effect in due course.”
When asked if any family member of Otuegbu was present at Monday ‘s hearing, Saunders said: “None attended, but they were aware. The Guardian
Before even reading the story I just knew it was an ibo man……what is with the Igbos and drug trafficking? Yes other tribes do it but Igbos are just one too many…. Money is not everything and hard work pays, u have a lot of Igbos who are millionaires from hard work but some greedy lot wants to make money by all means just to go home every year and show off wealth…..how ever u sow u will reap…. What a shameful way to die….
Uju, shut your stinking trap. You are too naive for international politics. I am an Igbo person, no doubt, but you took sides before hearing the complete story. The guy may even be your brother or close person to you who knows. You read that the said Ifeanyi has traveled for more than 40 times to London just within 2 years. There is every possibility that cocaine is not his major business, assuming what they wrote is true. The preciding judge did not address the matter brought before it and this tells you about racising in overseas and the easiest thing to say was that a Nigerian ws involved in drug because they know that somebody like you that does not like and defend our dear country will easily accept that and then aportion blames immidiatly. You dont know what world politics is like. They should have shown the utopsy result or say something from the family where the said Ifeanyi used to stay. UJU SHINE EYE O
Lol..typical victim mentality, what has world politics or racism got to do with this story? U open the papers here in the UK and one Nigerian or the other is doing something fraudulent…how many autopsy reports have u seen splashed on the pages of newspapers? His family did not even show up in court….u have not even said anything concrete to suggest conspiracy here so it just shows u are ranting typical tribal sentiments..the cause of death was the cocaine that.burst in his stomach what else did u want them to talk about?.. I work at the international airport and truth be told we see a lot of Igbos involved in this drug trade so pls calm down….