Drugs: The Nigerian connection

By Eniwoke Ibagere in Lagos

Lagos drug runners make a lot of money

Obi Okonkwo has just been freed from Nigeria's Lagos prison after serving 10 years for drug trafficking.

The 45-year-old is from Onitsha in southern Nigeria - the capital of West Africa's drug trade.

He was jailed for a year in Madrid and was deported to Nigeria where he spent nine more years in prison before he was pardoned. The jail term for drug trafficking in Nigeria ranges from five to 25 years.

The illegal drugs trade is still booming in Nigeria

He vows to hunt down the informers who tipped off the Spanish officials.

"It was an inside job by some jealous mates because I have been successful in the business for many years," he says.

World travels

Obi Okonkwo learnt about the drugs business aged 14, when he was still at school. He started with marijuana, but soon progressed to harder drugs.

Nigeria is a major supplier of cocaine

"Three years later, I was introduced to a woman who got me into heroin and cocaine trafficking," he said.

"It was like a school where you learn all the rudiments."

He carried drugs initially to other African countries, and later overseas.

The illegal drugs trade is still booming in Nigeria. It is regarded as the hub of a massive international operation.

The US accuses Nigerian gangs of supplying much of the cocaine and heroin imported into the US, South America, Saudi Arabia and Europe.

US sanctions

Many Nigerian drug couriers are either serving prison terms abroad or at home or have publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia.

When you are successful and get your dollars, it's like winning a lottery

Ojide Ikubo, drug trafficker

Figures from the Nigerian anti-narcotics agency, NDLEA said 10 drug barons were arrested in 1994, while the figure jumped to 27, including four women, in 1995.

In the first three months of 1996, it arrested 159 drug traffickers. Details of arrests and seizures in subsequent years were not available.

The US cut direct air links with Nigeria in 1993, and "decertified" the country, to block economic aid.

The air link was restored in December 1999, but the US said it had seen little change in Nigeria's efforts to stop drug smuggling.

Obi Okonkwo admitted his gang and similar others had successfully transported drugs using speedboats and ships from secret departure points in Lagos.

He said: "Because of tight security, we carry drugs only at night and we usually plan with officers on the ships. Sometimes we use naval officers or military soldiers in countries we're travelling to.

Invisible chain

"It's a chain of barons at the top, agents in the middle and we couriers at the bottom of the ladder. The barons are invisible to the agents and couriers."

NDLEA boss Ilya Lokadang said many drug runners were often duped into believing their employers knew "special tricks" to avoid getting caught.

"But in our search for the owners of the gangs, if we get hold of the small runners, we won't let them go," he said.

Even when a courier confesses and we try to track down his boss, you discover he's either dead or gone missing without trace

Anti-narcotics boss Ilya Lokadang

"The irony is that a courier that is caught may refuse to disclose who gave him the drugs. Even when he confesses and we try to track down his boss, you discover he's either dead or gone missing without trace."

Risky business

Nigerian Ojide Ikubo, like Okonkwo, was caught for drugs trafficking in 1988. He was jailed for 15 years, but granted a pardon after 11. He said drug-running had earned him millions in foreign currency.

"I travelled all over the world trading in all sorts of drugs - cocaine, heroin, marijuana - you name it," he said.

"When you are successful and get your dollars, it's like winning a lottery."

He explained how his gang used scheduled flights to traffic drugs.

"What we do is to negotiate with one of the pilots of the plane and get the drugs into one of the (baggage) holds of the craft during the pre-flight maintenance checks," he said.

The traffickers sometimes use "passive couriers" - government officials who are not liable to rigorous checks.

Drugs crack-down

The NDLEA itself was rocked by scandal in 1991, when former boss Fidelis Oyakhilome was sacked after being accused of a relationship with a Lagos socialite who was later convicted for drugs-related offences.

General Musa Bamaiyi started a vigorous crackdown when he took over in 1994.

Mr Bamaiyi introduced tribunals to try drug couriers, while a new law mandated NDLEA officers to arrest anyone who could not account for their wealth.

Mr Bamaiyi sought even tougher laws, including the death penalty for drug trafficking - a flashback to 1984 when three drug peddlers were executed in public by firing squad.

An outcry at home and abroad made the military government back down on the death penalty, but not on the anti-narcotics war.