A Nigerian lady living in the United Kingdom, identified as @shakels95 on TikTok, has recounted her surprising experience of how she landed in the Police custody due to a simple misunderstanding of Nigerian slang.
According to her, the incident happened at a pharmacy while she was buying medications for her husband.
During a phone conversation with her husband, she unknowingly used the term “drugs” instead of “medications,” which led to her being arrested.
She explained in a TikTok video, “I got arrested yesterday, last night, and got detained. Now, I am going home. Story time. So, yesterday, I went to the pharmacy to get some drugs for my husband.
“Then, when I got it finish, I was on call to say, ‘Ah, I got the drugs, I got two drugs for you. So, when I get home, when you use it, you are going to be strong.”
“Ok. Not knowing people closer to me were like, ‘drugs, drugs, drugs,’ but I wasn’t bothered ’cause I felt I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Shortly after her call, the police arrived at the scene, suspecting she was involved in illegal activities.
Despite her efforts to explain that she was referring to over-the-counter medications like Ibuprofen, the officers were unconvinced.
She added, Before I knew it, the police came. When they came, they were like, ‘we heard there is drugs.’
“And I said what drugs? This (displaying the medications she got) was literally what I was referring to as drugs, Ibuprofen, for my husband because he wasn’t feeling well…”