Our strategies at fighting drug barons, others at MMIA- Ahmadu

Garba Ahmadu is the Commander of Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). In this interview with CHUKWUEMEKE IWELUNMO, the NDLEA Commander speaks on the activities of the narcotics agent at the airport. Excerpts:

Please can you review the activities of NDLEA in the last six months?
In the last quarters, we have been able to do this much, we have made a total of 18 seizures; and we have arrested a total number of 19 suspects in which 17 are male and 2 are female.

In the same period, we have made 3 abandoned seizures, these seizures comprise of cocaine with the total weight of 2.575kg, heroine 5.100kg, Methamphetamine, 6.615kg Ephedrine, 73.440kg then Cannabis Sativa 66.300kg, bringing the total weight of all the illicit drugs exhibit to 154.300kg.

That is what we have been able to accomplish by the way of illicit drug exhibits. Within the same period, we have made monitoring seizures of 15,000 counterfeit U S dollars and 6 ATM cards and it has been transferred to our national headquarters where we have a directorate that will handle that.

What is the cause of the reduction in the number of people coming and going out of the country?
A lot of our seizures were on Emirates Airline last year, but there is a little shift in that trend; may be because of what is going on.

I learnt that for you to get a ticket from source country of cocaine which is mostly from South America, Sao Paulo, Brazil to be precise, you need to make payments with credit card and that will give an idea of who you are and a lot of information about you. Cash payments are now acceptable by the airline.

These too to an extent, has reduced the number of couriers that will want to use the airline because they will not want to collect cash payment.

Again, there are lots of departures from Lagos to whatever country they are going, but on their way back, they stop in one of the west coast countries to change their routing.

So, I think that to an extent, is an indication that even though they leave from Lagos they don’t want to come back to Lagos, they come through other west African countries but our boys are vigilant and they are doing everything possible to curb this act.

What is your relationship with the other airlines operating in Nigeria especially in MMIA?
I think it is cordial to the extent that, if there is need to get any additional information, they are always there. Yes, we do share information.

To the best of my ability, an arrest was previously prompted by one of the airline and there is an on- going investigation on that case. I think they are operating very well. Our relationship with the other security agencies in MMIA is equally cordial.

I think it is cordial. There is no formally reported case of any misunderstanding within my staff any of the staff working with the other agencies.

How do you react to the extortion between workers?
MMIA airport is an airport that is guided by rules. There are agencies that are saddled with the responsibility of checking the conduct of everybody that is working there. We have the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

I have not received any complain from the NCAA to say that, any of our officer is involved in any case of extortion. The highest decision making body of the airport is airport Security Committee.

The airport Security Committee has set up a task force to look at the activities of all the agencies working in the airport on every issue.

That task force was set up with representations from all the agency that are working in the airport. That body has been working since the inception of the executive order and I have not received one complaint from that task force on extortion by my officer or anybody working with the NDLEA.

Again, I went to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) as an agency after the publication. I had to go and see the new airport manager to ask whether this is the official position of FAAN.

She told me that she does not know anything about it; and that she doesn’t have any complaint. The three bodies that take formal complaints on every conduct or miss-conduct in the airport are the NCAA, the task force created by the airport Security Committee and FAAN itself.

What about Executive Order or ease of doing business? Does it have anything to do with national security, especially where drug trafficking is concerned?
In discussing whatever is that is written in the executive order, it is stated clearly that we should not compromise national security. So, it doesn’t stop us from doing our work.

We should do it is such a way that we do not delay passengers. Agencies have been there for almost 28 to 30 years now. We have structures, segmentation, checks and balances and teams.

In each beat, we have people that supervise the activities; and we have units that go round for supervision. At any beat, we have O C’s and we have head chiefs to supervise what the O C’s are doing.

Then, we have P S O’s to go around to check on the head chiefs and the O C’s. Then, we have the Assistant Commanders that check the activities of all these bodies. Again, we have a body that goes to check the conduct and misconduct of officers; to a large extent they do their job.

How do you manage to break into the cartel between agencies in the MMIA?
What is going on in the tarmac is very surprising and as such, we need to do something to curb the activities because seizures made there are always high with a lot of quantities.

To God be the glory, we have been able to stop some very bad activities in the tarmac. About three months ago, we made an arrest of heroine involving a Nigerian Airport Handling Company (NAHCO) staff and we have taken him to court.

Recently, the ease of doing business was introduced; has it really affected the activities at the airport?
The first month after the implementation, you know it is a new system and there are a lot of things that we asked that should be provided so it was a little bit difficult for us.

Throughout the month of June, we were a little bit confused but somehow, I think my officers have been able to get over that and we captured the airport.

That explains why we have results, but I still think, we need to get better scanners, better metal detectors. We need to have more access to passengers’ information; and that will come from the airline.

By so doing, we would have done a lot of homework before the passengers would come to the airport. This will assist us to know the ones we would work on and the ones we don’t need to waste time on.

What is your view on allegations of some airport workers colluding with drug traffickers to convey the drugs?
We have several ongoing investigations involving NACHOL and SACHOL staff; we have a case that has gone beyond investigation. One NACHOL staff has already been charged to court.

We have another case that is ongoing, involving some NACHOL staff too, that has to do with seizures of Ephedrine worth more than 20kg.

There is another one that has to do with SACHO staff; and we have been able to arrest 3 people that are currently in detention. The case is good enough for prosecution.

The interesting thing about this arrest is that most of the seizures made in the tarmac are huge seizures up to 20-30kgs.

What is your advice to the handling companies?
I think it is a general problem. I don’t know and I can’t say with authority that this is what they pay their staff but I think it is good for them to make the salaries better.

As far as we hear, they say the salary is not fantastic, and if your salary is not fantastic and you are working in a place where people can meet you and give you all sorts of ideas you become vulnerable.

So there is need for them to make their salaries much better. I think aside from that, one thing that is more important even more than the salary is for them to vet their staff before they employ.

They have to see their tendencies and how vulnerable they would be to deceptions into doing this kind of things. This is to prevent them from tarnishing the image of this handling companies. I think it is very important for them to vet before and after employment and to enlighten them publicly.

Do you think you are doing enough in terms of doing background checks before you employ the officers?
You can only talk for your agency. I don’t know the employment procedure of other agencies. Whether they do it directly or they hire another firm. What I know is that if they vet properly, it will reduce certain things.

Why is MMIA attractive for drug traffickers?
As far as I know it is the busiest airport in West Africa. I can arguably say it is one of the busiest airport in Africa. You can also get connection to any part of the world.

How prepared is the NDLEA for the end of the year?
We made 2 to 3 arrests in the first six days of October. That shows that the ’ember’ months have started and we need to up our game. We try to do more than we used to do.

We need to perfect all the plans we have. Aside from that, there are operations that we do in collaboration with international organisations from other countries.

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