Posted by By MAURICE ARCHIBONG on
Going by the spate of seizures and arrests recorded by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the incidence of drug trafficking seems to be on the rise despite efforts by various authorities to curb the menace.
Going by the spate of seizures and arrests recorded by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the incidence of drug trafficking seems to be on the rise despite efforts by various authorities to curb the menace.
For example, Ene Mendie, the Public Affairs Officer of the Seme Special Area Command, revealed that the unit of the NDLEA made 16 arrests of suspected hard drug traffickers within the months of July and August 2005.
These arrests yielded a total seizure of 21.470 kg of hard drugs, according to Mandie, who spoke on behalf of Mr Ene Tony-Ray, Commander of the Seme Special Area Command of the NDLEA. Cocaine accounted for 860 grams, while 20.61 kg of cannabis was part of the total drugs seized.
Further analysis of the statistics shows that all the suspects are males aged between 14 and 41 years. Although most of the suspects are Nigerians, Togolese and a Beninois national are among those hauled in by that command of the NDLEA over drug-related offences.
Possibly the most disturbing of all the arrests is that of a 14-year-old Beninois arrested with 1.5 kg of cannabis wrapped with a black cellophane bag, which was further concealed inside a Ghana must go bag. The adolescent had been contracted by an unknown trafficker to cross the bag from the Nigerian side into the Beninoise side of the frontier, while the trafficker, to avoid arrest, rode atop another motorcycle to the other side to await the arrival of his illicit merchandise.
Seme NDLEA sources believe this "trend … seems to be the use of the locals and transporters, who are familiar with the terrain of the border to cross the drugs from one point of the border to the other".
According to that command's spokeswoman, "the use of transporters/drivers, etc, seems to be a recurrent feature in the operation of traffickers through the Seme route".
Around 11.30 pm on August 20, a Togolese named Sule Lasisi was arrested with 700 grammes of cocaine in Gbaji. The drug was carried inside a black cellophane bag, which was concealed in the air-filter of the suspect's car. The illegal consignment comprised several pellets skilfully wrapped and prepared for ingestion.
Sequel to Lasisi's arrest, a follow-up operation by that command's operatives led to the arrest of one Okechukwu Collins, suspected to have given the drugs to Lasisi to deliver to the prospective courier to ingest and take overseas from Togo.
The Seme Special Area Commander attributed his command's success so far to the quality leadership of the NDLEA Chairman, Dr. Bello Lafiaji. According to Mr. Ene, his unit's efficiency is one of the dividends of "constant training and retraining of NDLEA officers and men both locally and internationally by Dr. Lafiaji. He added that the spate of successes recorded by his team was partly due to the support and cooperation of other agencies, including the Customs, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Police and so on.
In another development, a 51-year-old evangelist, Mr Ambrose Okoye has said he had seen himself in prison "in a vision" three months before he was arrested with two other persons allegedly for drug trafficking.
Speaking to Daily Sun recently, Okoye, who introduced himself as an Apostle, said he held himself responsible for his predicament because God had forewarned him through a vision during which he saw himself in handcuffs. He added, however, that the devil probably prodded him into yielding to the temptation to get rich quick through drug trafficking.
Okoye, a father of 10 children, was arrested along with Haruna Aluko and Olutola David around 10.30 am on July 26, this year by operatives of the Seme Special Area Command of the NDLEA at Owode.
Until his arrest, Okoye was the head of Yahweh Shalom Ministry Church along Jubilee College Road in the Mobamo area near Okokomaiko along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
Okoye came close to shedding tears while narrating his fate to Daily Sun. He revealed that it was actually a member of his congregation that invited him into that shady business. That member is 58-year-old Olutola David, one of the detainees. David told Daily Sun that like his "Pastor" he had never engaged in drug trafficking before, but when Haruna Aluko (35) sold him the business proposition, he felt that it would help his church to grow, if he brought in his pastor to share in the booty, albeit ill-gotten.
David, a shoe dealer in the Jericho area of Cotonou, said Aluko invited him into the business to facilitate the exportation and sale of 160gms of cocaine since as a resident of neighbouring Benin Republic, David would know how to cross the frontier as well as to dispose of the illicit ware.
On his part, Aluko explained that one John, whom he met while drinking in a beer parlour, led him into attempted drug trafficking. He said that John was so crafty that he never got to know the man's house or even phone number, whereas the latter suddenly knew all his personal data.
Aluko recalled that it was on a Wednesday that John handed him the drugs in a beer parlour in Cele Nissa part of Okokomaiko. "The following weekend, we were arrested with the substance. But I never knew it was cocaine. I was attracted to the deal because this John said he would take N3, 500 per gram and I learnt that we could make some profit from it."