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By Lawrence Agbo
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raised concerns over a new drug trafficking tactic involving the ingestion of illicit substances for overland journeys across the Sahara Desert to North Africa and Europe.
According to NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, traffickers are increasingly abandoning air travel due to heightened airport surveillance and are now resorting to road routes.
He explained that suspects ingest drugs before embarking on long trips from southern Nigeria through the northern corridor and across the desert, with multiple stops to excrete and re-ingest the substances.
“The latest code is appalling. Now they know that with modern tools and vigilance of @ndlea_nigeria officers at our airports, it’s now extremely difficult to pass through without being caught, they have now resorted to ingesting illicit drugs to travel by road from the south to the north and through the desert to North Africa and ultimately Europe with about three stops to excrete and reingest,” Babafemi stated.
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Babafemi described the method as dangerous and alarming, noting that it exposes traffickers to significant health risks.
He added that the agency’s growing presence on highways is likely to result in more roadside interceptions and recoveries of excreted drug pellets.
“Is this risk not too much? Anyways, the bad news is that code too don cast and with the increasing presence of NDLEA officers on the highways, there will be many roadside excretion of illicit drugs as is the case in the attached video,” he added.
The NDLEA said the drug ingestion tactics reflect evolving strategies by trafficking networks in response to ongoing crackdowns on both airport and inland drug smuggling operations across the country.
