Too much money – NDLEA declines to give monetary value of hard drugs intercepted in 13 months
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said it intercepted and seized 207,976 kilogrammes of hard drugs within 13 months, marking a troublesome rise in drug pushing.
The drugs were seized across seaports, deviating from the traditional route of airports. This also indicates a change of strategy by the drug pushing cartels in the country
According to Punch Newspaper, Director of Media and Advocacy of NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, sent the information for news purpose.
First quarter of 2024 alone, he disclosed that 14 suspects were arrested with 16.69kg of cocaine and 11,622.229kg of cannabis sativa. The suspects choose sea route for the import and export of drugs.
“167 persons were arrested with 196,336.99kg of various types of drugs from January to October 2023,” Babafemi disclosed.
He abstained from disclosing the value of the drugs in currency due to the mouthwatering sum could push citizens into the act.
NDLEA has often embraced practices that discourag citizens from venturing into drug businesses. But failing to mention the worth of the intercepted hard drugs doesn’t in any way deprive the citizens from knowing that drug pushing is an illegal business with huge money.
“We do not put a value on the seizure to avoid glorifying criminal activities or motivating others into desperation,” he noted without knowing that failing to mention it raises curiosity and points to the fact the value is huge to the extent it dumbfounded him.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises, Dr Muda Yusuf, reacted to the news and urged for a stricter sanction on offenders
“People are becoming more desperate to make money from these hard drugs. They are becoming more daring. If the government introduces more deterrent sanctions, perhaps they won’t be that daring or desperate to make quick money and dare to face the risk of committing such crimes.
“I don’t know what the sanction is now, but stricter sanctions are likely to help, because the more of them that are caught and sanctioned, the better for the system. It will send a signal to others around the world that it is a no-go area,”
The government has a stipulated fine and time in prison for a convicted drug pusher, but irrespective of the magnitude of the fine, drug pushers are not deterred.
While stricter punishment can help, the role of the security agents is more crucial to discouraging drug pushing.
“When the security agents make drug pushing harder, by intercepting and intelligence gathering, those that venture into it would be discouraged because they would be caught” a concerned citizen reacting to the news commented on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Due to corruption, most drug pushers escape judgement even after being caught by the security agents.
Nigerian Assistant Inspector General of Police was once caught on tape negotiating with drug dealers. The tape was a job executed inconjuction with Interpol to track drug pushers who confessed working with Nigerian police to push drugs.
