The
Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA),
Ahmadu Giade has called on airlines to take all necessary steps to prevent drug
trafficking in the country. This was made known during an emergency meeting of
airline managers at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) with the
Agency’s leadership. The Agency
also disclosed that the United Kingdom authorities have released the Arik crew member
that was allegedly found in possession of cigarettes. She is currently helping
NDLEA officers in the on-going investigation. However, the crew member
reportedly found with 6kg of substance suspected to be cocaine is still being
quizzed in London.
Giade
warned that any airline found wanting shall be penalised. He pointed out that
section 25 of the NDLEA Act outlined the responsibilities of airlines. “It
shall be the duty of every commercial carrier to take reasonable precaution to
ensure that its means of transport are not used in the
commission of offences under this Act. They are to comply with appropriate
security measures at points of entry and exit in the Federal Republic of
Nigeria and other customs control areas, to prevent unauthorized cargo in its
means of transportation”.
The NDLEA commander at the Lagos airport, Mr Hamza
Umar explained that such precautions as
contained in the Act include training of personnel to identify suspicious
consignment or persons, promotion of integrity of their personnel and
submission of cargo manifests in advance. Others are use of tamper-resistant,
individually verifiable seals on containers and reporting to the Agency at the
earliest opportunity all suspicious circumstances relating to drug trafficking. The airlines through their representatives pledged their full
cooperation with security measures by authorities in preventing drug
trafficking. Since the incident on Monday, security checks on airline officials
have been intensified at the nation’s airports as well all entry and exit
points.
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