“Whereby a ship brings thousands of containers, we may only choose about 40 out of them”
Recently, Shipping Position Daily’s duo of Oluyinka Onigbinde and Adewale Buraimoh, met with the Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos; Mr Mohammed Abubakar. In this interview, he opens up on the activities of the agency, the challenges and other issues.
What has been your experience since your assumption of office at Tin Can Port?
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency like any other agency does not operate in a vacuum. Immediately I assumed office in February this year, I realized we needed to get across to stakeholders in the industry in order to function efficiently and more effectively. At that time, I realized we had to get across to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), associations of clearing agents, bonded terminal operators, and shipping line agents. These are the people we actually needed. Then we’ll talk of other stakeholders like the Nigerian Police Force, DSS, Port Authority and others. They are too numerous to mention. These are the stakeholders involved in the activities of the Tin Can Island Port. In order to make our operations successful, we need these people. This is because we use some of their input for intelligence which we act on often, to do our work. Another aspect of our own job is concerned with the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) in our society and recently the Chairman/Chief Executive of the agency, Gen. Buba Marwa launched the WADA. In doing so, I think there have been places where it has never been done and unprecedented. We have places like Snake Island and some other islands around the area. We have so many scattered and unnamed islands around us that a lot of people are not even aware they exist. There are lots of villages when you enter those places; these are the places that pose security risks in the country. This is because some of the drug barons and networks are utilizing those areas to bring drugs into the country. All the Indian hemp coming from Ghana; most of the time find those places and use them as storage. So I had to get to those people to ensure they are informed on what we are trying to do as a government agency. I think we have been up and doing; and so far so good the experience has been pleasant. This is because I am getting all good responses from those people.
What is the scope of NDLEA at the port?
We have been saddled by the enactment of the law; with the prevention and detection of all violations of the Act of the NDLEA at the ports. That is the primary duty of the NDLEA. We also have the duty to investigate drug cases and also work in synergy with the Customs at all the Custom points where we relate with them in terms of the movement of all the goods around the area. We keep track of that. We also have a duty to detect and investigate all assets and property of people who are arrested or those who are linked to drug importation. We have so many functions, but these are some of them.
Since you resumed, what is the compliance level among stakeholders concerning drug importation?
Well, it is still work in progress, but I think the compliance level is up to 70 to 80%. This is because we are still having some challenges and teething problems. Like in terms of the shipping lines, we want a situation whereby they can be able to apply what is known in the Banking Sector as Know Your Customer (KYC). I think it is very important especially now when anybody can bring any kind of fictitious name and addresses on the Bill of Laden and ship manifest. It is not our work. Some people are using these loopholes to do some kind of criminal activities. We are looking forward to seeing that before the shipping lines allow any of their clients to bring in anything to the country, they should provide their international passport whereby we can be able to establish his actual identity. So if there’s anything incriminating, illegal or illicit in those consignments, then they can be easily found. You would find out that most of the times when we make an arrest, we have serious problems at our hand trying to identify the actual person involved. That is why most of the times; it is the clearing agents that bear the brunt because they are the people interfacing between us and importers. We arrest them because it is through them we can get to the importer.
Does Indemnity Form stop the NDLEA from arresting clearing agents because they don’t know the content of the consignments?
It doesn’t. The only thing it does is that it indemnifies the clearing agent against any loss or inconvenience it may suffer during the process of trying to clear the goods out of the port. I think he will be able to exonerate himself by signing that form. Just like the sdhipping lines, the clearing agents should be able to know their customers too. If there’s any problem, all we expect from them is to tell us who the importers are. Those are the people we are interested in, because they are one responsible for what is inside the container. The agents were not there when the container was loaded. The major problem we have with the container is when they take sides with the importer against the agency. In that case, they can be treated as an accomplice. But for now, they are just middle men, they are not criminals as far as we are concerned and we don’t arrest them to incarcerate them or charge them to court. We only arrest them in order to get to the importer. As an agent, he has some responsibility to his principal and the principal has his own responsibility to the agent. So to get the principal, we must go through the agent.
Despite the fight against illicit and psychotropic substances, we still find some kiosks around the ports, where some of these drugs are being sold. What is your command doing about this?
We have been up and doing. If you go back into the records of the arrest and seizures of the agency, you would find out that we have been raiding those places and making some seizures. Even recently, during the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse, we ensured there were lectures and interviews at the trailer park. All these activities are geared towards the sensitization of the public, particularly people who are using those places. The message is that we are going to do our work whatever it takes. It’s just as simple as that, but we will continue to work so long as we have the intelligence concerning their activities. We will make sure that we do the needful. Just last week, we had some surveillance reports and I think it is just a matter of time. Whatever we find out on the basis of our information, we would spring into action and we will make sure that those people who are tarnishing the image of the country by doing all those wrong things will be brought to book.
What is the total number of drugs seized this year and their country of origin?
The total arrests and seizures we have this year, that is from January till date is 1739kg of various drugs part of which 1500kg is Tapentadol; a drug more powerful and effective than Tramadol, we also intercepted Colorado from Canada which was 220 kg and the total street value of these drugs is around N3.6 billion. Like Colorado they pack it in small sachets which is about 500 grams and in the street, they sell it for up to N1.7million. The country of origin for Colorado is Canada but Tapentadol is coming from India.
With this value of drugs that have been seized, is it right to say Nigeria is no longer a transit country but a consuming country?
Not necessary but is still a factor that Nigeria is a consuming country and not just a transit country. Most of the high value drugs we see coming into the country like heroin and cocaine are all transiting to other parts of the world. They bring them from South America and sometimes stay there a little, then they transship them to Europe, USA and some part of South East nations.
What are the bottlenecks that your officers are facing at the port?
There are lots of challenges. When we have different kinds of people together, then there will definitely be a spectrum of interests. Due to this, we have an Inter-agency rivalry. Sometimes when you work with some of these agencies, you will find out that there are some overlapping activities and functions which one is affecting the other. I think the major challenges we have been having is in terms of investigation. This is because when dealing with drug-related cases, we require speed to achieve that. When we allow some time to elapse, a lot of evidence would have been lost. At the end of the day, it will be very difficult to establish what you’re trying to achieve. So I think the situation existing today at the seaports as regards seizure is that once you arrest or make a seizure, the Customs will intervene and want to take over the items discovered, until they have communicated to their higher commands at Abuja before they can transfer them back to us. And this is the discoveries made during joint examination because all the security agencies are supposed to be there before any container should be opened and examined. But notwithstanding, I think that is the procedures they are having in their agency but it is interfering with our ability to do an effective investigation as demanded of our job. These are the challenges we are facing but we are still exploring ways to see how these issues can be resolved and everyone doing its job.
How has lack of scanners affected your work at the Port?
Scanners are just like any other devices used to reveal concealments inside the containers. Apart from the scanners, there are various ways. We use our Canine Unit that is our Sniffer Dogs. We also use different kinds of methods like targeting and profiling containers. Once the shipping line has been able to give us the manifest, from there we can be able to look at the profile of all containers. Then, we’ll pick some. Most of the time we find ourselves in a situation whereby a ship brings thousands of containers, we would only choose about 40 out of them. These are the containers we become interested in and we focus on doing 100 percent examinations as far as we are concerned. So it is not every container that we do visual or 100 percent examinations. There are some that are concentrated. We use different kinds of methods and devices. Quite alright, scanners are needed because it will be able to tell you whether the declaration made to the Customs or Shipping line as far as the Shipping manifest this concerned is actually what is inside the container. If someone is trying to conspire and conceal some aspects, then definitely we can go all the way to do some examination to detect all illegal things in the container. I think scanners are still needed. It is one of the indications, but not the only device. There are so many trackers and methods that can be used in order to profile a container and do an effective job without physical examination.
Do you have enough sniffer dogs?
Yes, we have enough for the time being. Just like what I told you earlier, it is just a tip of the Iceberg. It is not each and every container we examine. We profile them and on the bases of that profiling, we pick the ones that are targeted and we do the 100 percent physical examination. Sometimes, we get lucky to make arrests out of the selected containers and sometimes it comes out negative but in all the profiling there are elements which indicate the probability of something being concealed inside those consignments. That’s how it works.
How is the relationship between NDLEA and sister agencies at the port?
I will say it is cordial, because the door is open to all of us. We interact and exchange intelligence amongst all the security agencies. We just have some of the challenges which I mentioned earlier but I believe they are just coming out of procedures. It is something that can be rectified from the higher authorities. The security of the country is for the benefit of all of us. It is not something we should joke about due to peculiar interests. It is a collective responsibility of all of us. All these bottlenecks should be done away with. Our presence is already established at the port in accordance with the provision of the Law. I think we should be allowed to do the needful. The Customs should be interested in taking the records which they can communicate to their command and not for them to take over what we discovered. Only from them after some weeks, sometimes a month before they return those items which will enable us to continue the investigation, but the issue would have gone stale or cold. They should allow us to do what we are supposed to do. This is greatly affecting our job.
On a scale of 100, how would you rate the compliance level of importers and freight forwarders?
Just like what I have said, we don’t have any contact with the importers. This is because the importers normally relate with the Customs and the Shipping lines. The people we interact with directly are the clearing agents, Shipping lines and other stakeholders like the Customs, other security agencies and the terminal operators. The importers too are stakeholders because they have their own association, but we don’t have contact with them individually. It is only during investigation when we need to identify the person behind whatever is imported which is found to be incriminating. That is the only time we come in contact with the importer.
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