News of arrests and seizures publicised by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on January 28, 2024, included a returnee from Brazil who was caught at the Lagos International Airport with 60 wraps of cocaine he ingested from Sao Paulo.
Nigerians who have been following the NDLEA weekly digest for the past three years since the agency rebooted, will notice that major arrests of cocaine trafficking into the country always include a man or woman returning from Brazil. Nearly all of the suspects always claimed they were forced to undertake the criminal risk of serving as drug mules because of an urgent need for money.
Eight countries including Brazil, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Russia demand that Nigerians coming into their territories tender visa clearance certificates from NDLEA because some of them are designated as “source countries” for illicit drugs.
Therefore, anyone coming into Nigeria from such countries is also a potential candidate for scrutiny at the airport.
Some traffickers who tried to be smart would first fly to another country or fly an airline that will stop over in a neutral country in order not to raise a red flag when they touch down in Nigeria.
Usually, it always turns out that the families and relations of most of the arrested suspects had no idea about what their kins were up to; and some of them were not aware of the possible implications of travelling to certain source countries where they had no prior roots, either of education or business.
The truth is, today, many have travelled to such countries and failed to return home because they are languishing in prisons of foreign countries for drug trafficking offences, while their families lived in the false hope that they were probably trying hard to make ends meet and expected them to be back at a later date.
In 2018, at least 600 Nigerians were in Chinese prisons, some of whom were incarcerated for drug trafficking. In 2018–2019, Nigerians were the most frequently arrested foreign nationals for drug trafficking in Brazil, and their number was in the thousands. In 2023, 270 Nigerians were detained in Ethiopian prisons for drug trafficking. We have a lot of Nigerians in India, Thailand, Malaysia, and UAE, all incarcerated for drug trafficking.
This is a wake-up call for parents, especially, to be aware of this global menace now that the youths are desperate to “japa” out of the country by any means possible.
Nigerians seeking to go abroad need to be wary of fake promises of a good job that could later become a trap that could turn them into drug couriers and ultimately lead to their arrest, prosecution and imprisonment. This would bring shame and reproach to their family and cumulatively dent Nigeria’s image.
Adekunbi Lawal, Abuja
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