Why there is increase in drug trafficking through the seaports – NDLEA boss, Gadzama

Mr. Bashir Gadzama is the Area Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Apapa Port Special Area Command. In this interview with Maritime Today Online Shulammite Foyeku, he speaks on why drug traffickers prefer to smuggle drugs using the seaports largely because of opportunities for concealment. He also talked about why cannabis cannot be legalised in the country.

Excerpts:

You’ve recorded several seizures of drugs at the port in the past 11 months. How have you been able to achieve this?

We achieved it because we have the determination to work. We have a highly motivated work force and largely, we are enjoying cooperation with sister agencies because we are working as a team with many good sources of intelligence. We are not just working like zombies, we try to get intelligence. Largely, it is an operation that is intelligence-led and with a good work force, we are achieving good results.

The Nigerian seaports have been regarded as the major route for drug smuggling. Why do drug traffickers prefer to smuggle drugs through the ports despite the number of seizures recorded daily?

I am not aware of that rating but the truth about it is drug trafficking generally is something that deals with space. Anywhere there is space, there can be drug concealment and goods that are moved from the seaports are mostly in very large volumes. There are hardly any other means of transportation that move goods in bulk like the seaport. So, for that reason you could expect that there will be so much opportunity for concealment in the goods that are being shipped through the ports, even the vessel itself. For example, if something is hidden on a ship, unless you have specific intelligence you can imagine what it will take to search a ship. It can take one month; you won’t finish searching for one ship. So, there is of course a logical connection because there are bigger opportunities of concealment in the goods shipped through the seaport.

Will it then be right to classify Apapa port as a high- risk port in terms of drug smuggling?

When you say high-risk port, it’s normally supposed to be a product of comparative study but when you have not carried out such a study, you will not be totally correct to jump to such a conclusion. We make seizures at the ports, just as we make at the airports and in the borders and there has never been a scientific analysis on the seizures that are being made. I will say that Nigeria generally is a transit country, maybe now graduating into a producer country of some drugs. So, Nigeria is a transit and how does the transition come about? It must pass through somewhere and it passes through the ports, airports and border posts. It must pass from somewhere; it can’t just fall from the sky. So, Nigeria is a transit country largely for cocaine and heroin but Nigeria has also graduated into production of some prohibited drugs such as mephytamine. So, every entry point is high risk, the border post is high risk, and the airport is high risk too if you have been following our arrest at the airport. We make arrests almost on a daily basis but of course, the seizures at the airport are more often but they are smaller because you are dealing with passengers not bulk cargo like we see in the seaports.

NDLEA has continuously criminalized cannabis sativa but in other climes they are already exploiting its economic potentials? Is the agency looking in that direction?

Cannabis sativa is a drug. It has a psychoactive substance called tetrahycanabinone that is THC. What you don’t know is that the brand of cannabis in Nigeria is not the same thing as the brand of cannabis in other places. That is why they still want cannabis in Nigeria. Otherwise, why do they still want to import it? The THC content of cannabis in Nigeria is very high. If you make the mistake of legalizing the kind of cannabis we have here, we will have a problem because the THC content of the cannabis we have in Nigeria is far higher than the THC content that they have in other countries.

Can you give an update on the dockworkers arrested in connection with importation of cocaine at the Apapa port recently?

Why should I be talking about something that is purely investigation and security? You are aware we have arrested the workers and we are investigating. So, what update do you want?

We heard that some of the dockworkers have been released while some are still being held?

When you heard some have been released and some are still held, it is purely the product of the investigation. If the investigation does not have a significant link, do you continue to detain somebody? But when there is a significant link, do you just release? So those are the issues. If some have been released, there are good reasons for them to be released and if some are still being held, there are good reasons for them to be held.