Nigeria: 90+ in drug trafficking bust
2011-10-03 20:29
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Lagos - Nigeria's anti-drug agency on Monday announced that it had arrested more than 90 suspects at Lagos international airport this year, accused of trafficking drugs valued at $10m.
"...92 suspected drug traffickers comprising 82 males and 10 females had been apprehended at the Lagos airport between January and September," the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said in a statement.
A total of 203.8kg of illicit drugs, valued at 1.6 billion naira ($10m), including about 80kg of cocaine, were seized during the period, the statement added.
The NDLEA will intensify its fight against drug cartels and barons, the agency's chief executive, Ahmadu Giade, said in the statement.
"We must therefore continue to emasculate drug trafficking cartels to perpetually subject them under our control", Giade stated.
Internationally, Nigeria is considered as a transit point for drug trafficking, but the west African nation is intensifying efforts to fight the menace, the spokesman of the NDLEA, Ofoyeju Mitchell, told AFP.
In recognition of these efforts the United States in September last year removed Nigeria from its drug majors list, he said.
Drug traffickers use Nigeria as transit point to export drugs to the United States and some European countries, he stated.
- SAPA
