Woman To Be Sentenced To Death For Being Deceived By Her Nigerian Lover

A 30-year-old Russian woman accused of
being a cocaine mule faces the death
penalty in Vietnam after she was
reportedly set up by her Nigerian lover.



According to Dailymail, the woman
identified as Maria Dapirka, who has
already written a ‘farewell letter’ to her
mother, claims she was set up by her lover
who posed as a top Nigerian footballer.



Her lawyers have said she has accepted
she may soon be executed, but still clings
on to some hope she will be freed after
three years in prison. Dapirka, who lived in
Thailand when she met her lover, known
as Nick, was caught with almost 3kg of
cocaine by Vietnamese customs on a flight
from Singapore.



She said the cocaine was planted in her
luggage by Nick – or ‘Chib Eze’ – who
apparently has a penchant for seducing
attractive young women before conning
them into carrying drugs.



Dapirka’s verdict and sentence was due to
be handed down by a Vietnamese judge
today in a Ho Chi Minh city court but the
session was postponed ‘for further
investigation’ for the fifth time. In a letter
to her mother Olga, a desperate Dapirka
said she was ready for any decision by the
court.



She wrote: ‘Don’t worry about me. I am
fine. I am ready for any end. ‘I hope you
will manage to visit me.



‘I’ve not seen you for four years. I miss
you so much! Please take good care of
your health.’

Her lawyer Sunkar Nurmagambetov said:

‘We have received Maria’s appeal.
‘She addressed her family and said that
she has not lost faith yet but realistically
she understands there might be scenarios
like a death sentence or life term.’



‘Before her arrest, she was a keen
sportswoman who did not drink or
smoke, he said.



‘She has had to get used to the new
conditions. She is trying to stay as
optimistic as she can, but sometimes her
mood can be quite low.’



Pro-Kremlin news site Mash in Russia
published a picture purporting to be
‘Nick’, the man she accuses of framing her
after they met in Thailand. The Nigerian
media has claimed the same man used
different fake names to dupe dozens of
other women with model looks to act as
drugs mules. His real name is not known.



‘What started as a beautiful love story for
these innocent girls with model looks
ended up into a nightmare on the death
row on drug-trafficking charges,’ reported
NAIJ.com two years ago.



‘All these beautiful girls have been duped
into being drug mules by an elusive
Nigerian drug baron, who pretended to
be a professional footballer or a pro from
the fashion industry.



‘He seduced the girls promising to marry
them and establishing intimate
relationships with his victims, but little did
they know what they have been chosen
for.’


The woman was caught with two nylon
bags packed with cocaine in her hand
baggage, and more wedged inside a
magazine, at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son
Nhat International Airport in August 2014.



But Maria Dapirka, who has already
written a ‘farewell letter’ to her mother,
claims she was set up by her lover
‘Nick’ (pictured), who posed as a top
footballer

‘Maria would not carry cocaine, she has
always lived a strictly healthy lifestyle,’ said
her brother Vadim.


‘She does not eat meat, nor smoke, nor
drink and has always said that she thinks
all of those things are really disgusting.’



Popular tourist destination Vietnam has
some of the most severe penalties for
drugs offences in the world. People
caught with even small quantities of hard
drugs are liable to be executed. More than
two dozen foreigners are currently facing
the death penalty or life imprisonment for
drug trafficking offences.