Drug traffickers make $320 billion yearly - NDLEA

A drug trafficking syndicate generate $320 billion, approximately N115.2trillion annually, the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said yesterday.



This is just as the agency said it arrested a total of 77,558 persons for drug trafficking between 2015 and last year.

NDLEA’s Chairman, Muhammad Abdallah, stated this at a-day seminar organised to commemorate the International Day Against Drug and Human Trafficking.



Abdallah, who was represented by Kayode Adeniyi, described drug trafficking as the most lucrative business, noting that its high profit was a motivating factor for the traffickers.

The event, which held at the Renaissance Hotel, Isaac John, Ikeja, was attended by senior police officers, operatives of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and private security practitioners, among others.

Abdallah said: “The NDLEA first discovered a methamphetamine laboratory at Maza-Maza area of Lagos in 2011 and till date, 12 other laboratories have been discovered in Lagos, Anambra and Delta states.

“Of the arrested 77,558 drug traffickers, 72,735 are males and 4,823 females. So, you can see that the business of drug trafficking is not gender-based.

“It is very painful that Nigeria has been implicated as a source, transit and destination point for drugs and human trafficking.”

According to Abdallah, all hands must be on deck to check the menace, urging other security agencies to corporate by sharing intelligence.

The chairman of the event, Wale Olaoye, noted that human trafficking would surpass illegal arms sale if nothing was done to contain it.

Olaoye, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Halogen Security, said: “We are looking to change the narratives as Nigeria tops other countries in production and seizure of hard drugs. Nigeria also has the highest number of persons serving jail terms for drug offences in the world, which should be of great concern to us.

“The laws governing human and drug trafficking needs to be made stiffer because fines no longer make them effective to check the menace. There is need for a robust and effective border control system.”

Commissioner of Police (CP) Fatai Owoseni called for an overhaul of the adoption system in place.

Owoseni, who was represented by the Area D Commander, Akinbayo Olasuji, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), called for attitudinal change.