Pubdate: Fri, 12 Dec 2003 Source: This Day (Nigeria) Copyright: 2003 This Day. Contact: http://www.thisdayonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2870 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Nigeria DRUG BUSTING AS A WAY OF LIFE Encounter He wanted to be a medical doctor, he missed the chance when he was offered veterinary medicine at the University of Maiduguri. His interest refused to die so, he chose something close to it: B.Sc. biology. With his father's military pedigree, he too had hoped to be a soldier after his National Youth Service in Oyo State with the 2 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Ibadan. That too, could not materialise because at the point of entry, he got to know there would be a ceiling as to where he could rise to. At that point, his interest was annulled because he wanted a profession he could realise his potentials to the fullest. Once again, he chose something close to it in the para-military force. Today, Alhaji Abdullahi Abubakar Danburam is the commander of the Special Area Command, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja-Lagos. An advertisement by the then Gongola State Government Civil Service Commission had prompted his interest into applying for the NDLEA job as a foundation staff. Picked alongside a few others out of the over 3000 that applied from his state, Danburam headed for Jos where he did his training before being posted to the headquarters in Lagos. It was the fifth job offer in three months and he pitched his tent with NDLEA, which is something close to the military profession he once admired. Since then, he has not looked back in his determination to contribute his quota in ridding the country of illicit drugs. Although he speaks so passionately about his job at the NDLEA, he is also aware that it is delicate and required full attention, dedication and commitment because of the tricks of the drug couriers and barons. "This particular beat (airport), is a very sensitive one not only for NDLEA, but for all security agencies that operate here. There are a lot of challenges being a gateway for the country, but personally, I like challenges in order to make a difference. But I have served here before so, I am not entirely new to operational challenges here. But the first thing I did was to ensure that discipline is enforced and with the added incentive of improved working conditions since the tenure of Alhaji Bello Lafiaji as chairman/chief executive, the coast became clear for us to work. He has also boosted morale by promoting officers and men as at when due. We have received commendations from within and without the Agency in our efforts to curb drug trafficking in the country", Danburam stated. He said the evil ingenuity of traffickers devising various means of practicing their nefarious trade, has not dampened the morale of his men. He said the traffickers have resorted to concealing drugs inside luggage trolleys, shoe soles and even in parts of their bodies apart from swallowing them. He said the vigilance of his men and with the aid of x-ray machines, they have been able to apprehend the culprits. - - Asked to comment on the activities of Nigerians outside the shores of this country despite the efforts of the Agency at the airport, the MMIA commander declared that since the inception of the Lafiaji administration, things have changed drastically in that regard. He said the case most of the Nigerians jailed for drug offences outside the country was not a recent occurrence. He said the various measures adopted by the present administration trans-nationally have curbed the activities of these Nigerians. He added that the few that still engage in the illicit drug do not reside in Nigeria, so all insinuations that they use Nigerian airports to travel are not correct. According to him, drug couriers have two hurdles they dread to cross: NDLEA visa clearance and its security checks at the MMIA. "There were two categories of some unscrupulous Nigerians whose unholy activities of drug trafficking did great damage to the image of the country. One category were those set of Nigerians who physically ferried the drugs through the Nigerian borders. The second category were those Nigerians who left the country as honest citizens, only to go abroad and begin to do drugs as a result of difficulties of keeping body and soul together. As our chairman noted when he assumed leadership of the Agency, Nigeria and Nigerians have been ridiculed, humiliated, criminalised and decertified because some unscrupulous Nigerians had chosen to make drugs a business. 'We need to tackle the problem with greater vigour, he said in his statement of vision and declaration of war on these unscrupulous Nigerians. "As things stand, the situation has no doubt changed for the better. The ridicule and humiliation of Nigeria and Nigerians have now given way to a reasonable measure of esteem in the light of the certification of Nigeria by the United States for three consecutive years, coupled with the noticeable depletion in the number of Nigerians arrested abroad for drugs and the remarkable interdiction efforts within the country. "Although Lafiaji did put a good number of counter measures in place, two of the measures have really impacted on the relatively favourable image Nigeria is now savouring. These are the visa clearance measure and the upswing bombardment of narcotic officers on traffickers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, which is the traffickers' choice route because of the multifarious flights", Danburam stressed. He explained that the visa clearance unit of the Agency ensures that all intending travellers to drug source countries are screened and cleared for drugs before they are recommended to the embassies of those countries for visa. He added that this was to ensure that travellers whose mission to these countries smack of drug dealing were prevented from travelling to the countries where they are likely to obtain the illicit drugs and move it around the world. He said the possibility that if the drug dealer subjects himself to the intensive investigation he would not be detected is most remote. It has been established, he added, that those Nigerians that are being arrested abroad for drug offences, are not on the NDLEA list of those who had undergone the visa screening process. "The rule is that any intending traveller to any of the source countries is referred to the Agency by the embassies of these countries for screening and it is based on the Agency's investigation and recommendation that a country would choose to grant visa or not", he said further. According to him, Dr. POJ Induwongse, Ambassador of Thailand to Senegal who recently led a delegation from the Republic of Thailand to NDLEA, in acknowledgment of the Nigerian counter narcotic body's faithful prosecution of the drug war, commended the effectiveness of the visa clearance regime of NDLEA. He quoted from a statement made by the ambassador: "We are aware that the NDLEA plays an important role in curbing this international menace, hence this visit which will pave way for us to work more closely with each other". He said it was Induwongse as the then Ambassador of Thailand to Nigeria, that signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Agency demanding that all intending Nigerian travellers to the Republic of Thailand must be screened and certified drug free by the NDLEA before they were issued visa by the Embassy. "Since the Thailand-NDLEA Visa Clearance pact, several other countries have joined, an expression of their faith in the system. These countries are: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and Switzerland. Others are Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, Canada and Brazil. Taiwan, Slovak Republic, Russia, South Korea and Bangladesh, Spain, Columbia, Bolivia and Argentina. "Recent statistics show that the Agency has screened well over 2,500 intending travellers to source countries and recommended them without any of them being reported for drug offences", the stern looking airport drug buster explained. He stated that not all countries send travellers to them for investigation before they go ahead to grant visa. He stressed that NDLEA could not be responsible if anybody that has not passed through their process, travels abroad and is arrested over there for drug dealing whereas, he did not leave Nigeria with drugs. "The visa clearance requirements are simple but strict. All the Agency's requirements are in line with what the embassies ask for before granting visa. Where the Agency differs is that it asks for a guarantor, which is the backbone of the screening. A guarantor must be a reputable member of society. He must be a civil servant above grade level 10 or a senior officer of a reputable organisation. He can also be a certified professional in any field or own a registered business or landed property. Just somebody to hold responsible if the applicant turns out to be a drug dealer. I do not think we are asking for too much, because to get a guarantor should not be difficult for a legitimate traveller. This has been able to frustrate a good number of unscrupulous travellers because they can hardly get anybody to stand in for them as guarantor", said the NDLEA top official. He said his command has remained a thorn in the flesh of drug couriers, especially in the last three years. According to him, the efforts of the command combined with the visa clearance policy, have succeeded in reducing to the barest minimum, the incidence of Nigerians being arrested abroad with drugs. "Within the last eleven months, the Command has successfully prevented and arrested a total of 73 traffickers from taking drugs through the airport. We have exceeded our figures for the year 2001 and 2002 respectively. In 2001, we arrested 41 drug couriers while in 2002, 63 of them were arrested. A total of 143.511 kilogrammes of drugs have been seized at the MMIA this year. Most of the arrested suspects have been successfully prosecuted and convicted without any single acquittal", Danburam stated with some satisfaction. He said the NDLEA operations at the International Airport, which was reinvigorated by Lafiaji three years ago, has therefore, led to the arrest of a total of 177 drug traffickers from whom a total of 835.349 kilograms of hard drugs were seized. He added that the commitment of officers and men at the MMIA and the support of collaborating agencies at the airport, including airlines, has made it almost impossible for any trafficker to pass through the airport undetected. He said the success of the command was in spite of the very sophisticated disguise and mode of concealment, which traffickers employ. "They hire unsuspecting persons like handicapped persons, pregnant women who conceal the drugs in private parts or swallow them. Drugs are also usually concealed inside spare parts, body cream containers, false bottom of a luggage and even inside normal blood capsules. The arrest of the suspects involves more than screening luggage and the passengers. The officers go the extra-mile of skillfully profiling the passengers, which point to the status of the travellers", he said. He said as a further measure to checkmate the nefarious activities of these few bad eggs of society, NDLEA ensures that all drug-related deportees are tried for putting Nigeria's name to disrepute. Danburam never consented to the argument that such deportees suffer double jeopardy. "I am not a lawyer, but the judges that sit in judgment in these cases are very learned people. The law is specific on the offences, humiliating and scandalising Nigerians for which they will be punished on their return if found guilty. It is to serve as a deterrent. My chairman and the director have explained over time that it is not double jeopardy, I don't see it as such either", he said. Danburam's low moments of his career are periods when suspects refuse to cooperate in naming their barons while his exciting moments are when they (suspects) give him information that could lead to arrest of barons. With more than a dozen awards adorning the wall in his office for his dedication to duty and vigilance, the MMIA drug buster accepts that his job is risky, but added quickly that any human endeavour, including eating, is also risky. With confidence buoyed to sky limits by headquarters, Danburam assured that he was committed to making Nigeria drug-free. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake