Suddenly, the old-fashioned grandfather clock is gaining prominence because of the alleged interest from drug traffickers who are said to be using the pendulum to conceal cocaine and other illegal substances.
The grandfather clock, also called long-case clock, tall-case clock or floor clock, is a freestanding, weighty, pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower, or waist of the case.
The vintage grandfather clock’s pendulum is made of a metal with strong magnetic properties that can impair X-rays or other scanning rays. Therefore, it could be used to conceal cocaine and other banned substances from airport security scanners; and that is why the drug dealers are willing to pay so much for the artefact. Anything hidden within an encasement made from the pendulum of grandfather clocks cannot be seen by scanners because the magnetic properties of the metal will deflect probing rays.
Family heirloom disappears
John Okoye, 58, was astonished when he got home from the office one day to pick and dust his grandfather’s clock in his antique store only to find that his greatest asset was gone. At that moment, the reality of the burglary that took place in his home a few days back, dawned on him. According to Mr. Okoye his great grandfather bought the clock during a trip two centuries ago. His grandfather, who inherited the clock, gave the clock to his father. Mr. Okoye inherited the clock when his father died and he moved into the family home. It was at the office that Mr. Okoye heard from his colleagues that there is a sudden surge in the demand for grandfather clock, an antique he noticed only when his kids cleaned the family store house. Only some years back, he had taken it off his walls for a more modern clock.
In Enugu, where Mr. Okoye and his family live, the clocks are said to be going for as much as ₦1.2 million and scouts are said to be aggressively searching for them everywhere. Mr. Okoye suspects a relative, who he said had asked about the clock days before it was stolen, was involved in the burglary.
A collector in Abuja, who identified himself simply as Richards, said his group which has two other partners could offer as much as ₦400,000 each, for as many as they could find. In Bayelsa State, scouts reportedly offer ₦1.2 million for a unit if it is the “original”.
What is in it?
“They don’t want people to know the truth, so it will be like that, maybe so that they can pay the owners anyhow they want,” said Abdul Lawan who serves as an agent for the objects and has travelled to a number of rural communities in search of the pieces.
Some people who claim knowledge of the transaction said a group of Chinese buyers are interested in a mercuric content inside the clocks, for unclear purposes. Others say it is a chip embedded in the mechanism of the clock that is of grave importance to the Chinese, perhaps, for their electronic industries. But low prices may seem not to be the reason for the cover-up.
NDLEA claims ignorance
However, Ofoyeju Mitchell, the head of Public Affairs of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, said the agency is yet to make any discovery of the pendulum being used by drug peddlers to smuggle drugs. “People can just come up with any theory out of their own figment of imagination,” said Mr. Mitchell.
“The x-ray scanners we are using in the airports are the same used in other international airports in US and Europe. And if this is true it would have been discovered internationally but we are yet to have any of such incidences here.” He, however, requested for tips if available for the agency to investigate.
The English clockmaker, William Clement, is said to have developed the grandfather clock in 1670 but currently, there are just about five manufacturers of this kind of time piece worldwide.
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