The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
on Thursday disclosed that in 2019, most of the suspects arrested for peddling illicit
drugs at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) were passengers
travelling with Ethiopian Airlines, British Airways, South African Airways and
Emirates airline.
The agency disclosed that out of 101 suspects
arrested within the year under review, consisting of 87 males and 14 females,
19 people were arrested on Ethiopian Airlines, 13 on South African Airways, 10
on British Airways cargo airplane and seven on Emirates.
The MMIA Command of NDLEA disclosed that these
arrests were made with the collaborations of international airlines.
Speaking at
a press conference in its office at the Lagos Airport, NDLEA Commander for the
airport, Garba Ahmadu, said Dubai was the transit point for most illicit drugs
peddlers.
Ahmadu said record of arrests in the year under
review indicates that there is an increase in the number of persons arrested
from 93 persons in 2018 to 101 persons in 2019, indicating an 8.6 percent
increase.
He further disclosed that the number of seizures
and cases recorded in the year under review has also increased to 76 from 73 in
the previous year, showing an increase of 4.11 percent.
The NDLEA commander, however, noted that from
January to November 2019, the agency recorded 379. 061kg as against 5,377.125kg
recorded in 2018, showing annual decrease of 92.97 percent.
Ahmadu said cocaine accounted for 9.03 percent of
total drug seizures; Heroin 5.75 percent; cannabis Sativa 44.71 percent;
Methamphetamine 24.93 percent; Ephedrine 7.45 percent and others (Psychotropic
substances) 8.13 percent.
According to him, "NDLE has been able to make
these arrests because we have better capacity now, and more officers are trained
to do diverse investigations and follow ups.
"Collaboration with international airlines has
improved our officers' capabilities to do better targeting and profiling.
Initially, our challenge was access to airlines, but now we have the access to
airlines because of their corporation."
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