LAST week, Nigerians were left stunned and grateful in equal measures as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) busted a major warehouse in a secluded estate in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State where 1.8 tonnes (1,855 kilogrammes) of cocaine worth more than $278,250,000 or about N194,775,000,000 in street value were seized. It was the largest seizure in the agency’s history and four drug barons, including a Jamaican and the warehouse manager, were arrested in the well-coordinated and intelligence-led operation that lasted two days across different locations in the state. The kingpins of the cocaine cartel currently in custody include Messrs Soji Jibril, 69, an indigene of Ibadan, Oyo State; Emmanuel Chukwu, who hails from Ekwulobia, Anambra state; Wasiu Akinade, from Ibadan, Oyo State; Sunday Oguntelure from Okitipupa, Ondo state and Kelvin Smith, a native of Kingston, Jamaica. They are all said to be members of an international drug syndicate that the agency had been trailing since 2018.
To say the very least, the NDLEA’s Ikorodu operation is a huge testimony to its readiness to take the battle to the merchants of death who have caused untold damage both to the national life and Nigeria’s international image through their nefarious activities. As we noted in a previous editorial, the widespread insecurity in the country is substantially accounted for by the use of hard drugs. Indeed, in 2019, a joint research by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA) with technical support from the UNODC indicated that 14.3 million Nigerians aged between 15 and 64 years engaged in drug use. And as the Chairman/CEO of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen Buba Marwa (retd), pointed out in June last year, the majority of the users are young people who are initiated into cannabis use around the age of 19. There is, of course, also the increasing use of other psychotropic drugs, especially heroin, by a growing number of young people who are mostly initiated at the age of 22.
With reference to the Ikorodu haul, there is apparently a powerful clique behind the crime and we urge the NDLEA to further extend its investigative dragnet and bring all its members to justice. Besides, it is apposite to ask whether members of the neighbourhood were actually unaware of developments at the warehouse in question or had been intimidated into silence. Whatever is the true situation, the fact has been established that the populace must be vigilant and security-conscious at all times. In particular, owners of properties used as warehouses and shops, whether rented or leased, must exercise due diligence and determine with an unimpeachable degree of accuracy, the legitimacy of the businesses proposed to be done or being done on their property. There can be no counsel against being conscious of one’s environment and reporting suspicious movements or activities to the security agencies.
The cocaine haul in Ikorodu is indeed a landmark achievement by an agency blessed by a purposeful leadership. The fact that such a hefty seizure was successfully intercepted underlines the serious job that the NDLEA under Marwa has been doing in recent times. It has been going after the drug barons responsible for inundating the country with unending supply of dangerous drugs with alacrity. It is commendable that the agency has in its custody those in charge of the operations of the warehouse in the instant case. We commend it for the meticulous and painstaking, intelligence-led operation that resulted in this important busting of the alleged drug merchants. It is, however, important for the agency not to rest on its oars as nothing destroys the present and the future of a country faster than the influx of illicit drugs. Tracking down and stopping those responsible for such influx is the only viable way to stop them from destroying the country.
Besides, at the risk of sounding repetitive, the point cannot be ignored that the negative effects of illicit drugs are so far-reaching that opposing and stopping their influx should be the responsibility of all citizens. Nigerians should be sensitised and encouraged to be more interested in activities in their surroundings in order to help the country to keep a tab on all those intent on using drugs to bring it down. The NDLEA deserves the support of all Nigerians in its decisive onslaught on the drug racket in the country, even as we expect that those in the net now will be dealt with according to the law to serve as a deterrent to others.
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