Kenneth Ehigiator
13 January 2009
The year 2008 could come down in recent history as the most eventful for the Murtala Mohammed Airport Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and its counterparts at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
This is so because of the spate of arrests of hard drug traffickers made at both airports. From January through December, the media was awash of news of arrest and parade of trafficking suspects, and officials of the agency revelled in it. They may have padded themselves in the back that they had done wonderfully well in the task of fighting trafficking in cocaine, heroine and other psychotropic substances.
The agency, however, felt frustrated that its efforts at stamping out the menace was thwarted by the very lenient sanctions in place for suspects found culpable, as the crime attracts just two years of imprisonment. Although the agency officials at both airports have given themselves pass mark for a job well done in 2008, observers think differently.
For observers, the repeated cases of arrest and parade of the suspects is a function of the agency's inability to deal with the problem at its root, that of arresting and prosecuting the barons. All through the year, there was no case of a baron being arrested, let alone prosecuted. An agency as the NDLEA ought to have an intelligence unit, which should, through intelligence network, seek out drug barons wherever they may be, particularly as their activities have resulted in the destruction of lives of many young Nigerians .
The excuse of officials of the agency had always been that suspects on interrogation refuse to disclose either the identity of their sponsors or places of abode. It should be expected by even the most undiscerning that businesses as drug peddling thrive on secret vows which precludes the players from blowing the whistle on one another.
Because of failure of the agency to make any arrest of barons, the trend of arrest of couriers has again started in the new year, as arrest of suspects at the airports has begun.
The question is if a similar agency elsewhere in the world is arresting drug barons, why has it become intractable for the NDLEA to do so in Nigeria?
The killing in 1993 of one of the world's most dangerous drug lord, Pablo Escobar, of the Medellin cartel in Columbia comes to mind. Escobar was killed while trying to escape arrest and his killing brought sanity to the otherwise dangerous city of Medellin.
Similarly, arrests of hard drug couriers would continue to be made at international airports in the country with no end to drug trafficking, except the barons are sought after with venom. There is no denying the fact that the agency is doing well with frequent arrest of suspects, with its present level of equipment.
Only recently, the U.S. government donated to the agency for installation at both airports one of the latest screening machines in existence, but it does appear that solutions to nipping the problem in the bud lies in arresting the source of the drugs. Virtually all the arrests made at the airports are those of couriers who are merely doing the bidding of their sponsors.
Therefore, in the new year, the agency should focus more attention on getting to the barons than merely scratching the surface of the problem. Some close watchers of the situation have described frequent arrest and parade of drug suspects as that of giving the authorities the impression that the agency is living up to expectation. Others believe that it is a sign that the agency has not done its job well, hence the resurgence of trafficking, despite arrests.
There have even been cases where suspects arrested, prosecuted, jailed and released later were re-arrested while trying to take drugs out of the country. This shows that the present method adopted by the agency is not achieving the desired results.
Besides, the barons are no spirits; they are human beings who live in the midst of other Nigerians. If one may ask: What has been the level of public enlightenment of Nigerians by the agency to give information on barons living in their midst?
If the police could rely on information by the public to arrest armed robbers living in their midst, there is no reason the NDLEA should not replicate same in achieving its objectives.
The job of the agency had been made easier by the ministerial committee set up by then Aviation Minister, Prof. Babalola Borishade, to probe into activities at the nation's international airports, especially with regards to drug trafficking.
It was the recommendation of the committee, headed by the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Aviation, Capt. Shehu Iyal, that led to government's directive asking local airlines as Virgin Nigeria and Arik Air to relocate their domestic operations from the international to domestic terminals of the Lagos airport.
The committee had found that drug trafficking through the international airports, particularly Lagos and Abuja, was preponderant due to the operation of domestic flights through the international terminal buildings.
However, that has neither nipped nor reduced the rate of drug trafficking through the airports. Since the agency has failed in fishing out the barons, the role of the National Assembly in dealing with the problem of drug trafficking in Nigeria has become a necessity.
Chairman of the NDLEA, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, told newsmen in Lagos last year that the agency had forwarded to the National Assembly a bill seeking a minimum of 15 years imprisonment for drug traffickers to serve as a deterrence. Perhaps, this is the time for the lawmakers to fast track hearing on the bill to ensure it is passed into law as soon as possible.
Refusal of suspects to blow the lid on their sponsors could be due to the present minima punishment for the offence. It does appears that arrested traffickers would prefer to serve out the short sentence than reveal the identity of their barons.
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