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.
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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.