The Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has imposed more stringent screening on passengers travelling on the Lagos-Dubai route.
This followed increasing rate at which suspected drug traffickers are being arrested on that route in recent times, as more and more people have recently been apprehended with cocaine on the Lagos -Dubai flights, according to the NDLEA’s Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Col. Muhammed Abdallah who ordered the officers at the airport command to work more on Dubai-bound passengers.
The NDLEA in the first quarter of 2016 arrested 30 suspected drug traffickers comprising 26 males and four females while 100.545 kilogrammes of narcotic drugs valued at N574million were seized. Most of those arrested were either going or coming from Dubai, it was learnt.
This month alone, many Dubai-bound passengers were caught with cocaine, beginning on April 7 when one suspect was caught with 1.8kgs of cocaine hidden in boxer shorts. The following day, two suspects were arrested with 252 wraps of cocaine weighing 4.325 kilogrammes with an estimated value of N35million. Last week, another suspect was caught with 193 wraps of cocaine hidden in sucks while on Saturday, a woman feigned pregnancy with 86 pellets of white powdery substance worth N20.6million.
Checks by our correspondent at the airport showed that NDLEA officers now subject passengers on Lagos-Dubai flights to more stringent screening than any other international flights “because of the deeply rooted belief that the route has become a drug haven.”
“Dubai-Lagos route is gradually gaining notoriety and we are monitoring it closely,” the NDLEA chairman said.
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