As part of plans to stem the growing tide of drug trafficking by Nigerians, the Federal Government has revealed it will commence prosecution of airline operators whose staff colludes with passengers trafficking illicit drugs. Making the assertion, at a stakeholders’ meeting at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Brig Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), Chairman Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse, warned the operator's that the federal government led by President Buhari is determined to curb the menace.
He noted that preliminary investigations revealed that innocent passengers have been arrested due to their name tags being on luggage that does not belong to them, leading to arrest and persecutions by security agencies at their destination.
He said: “What I said is real that some airline staff and some persons collude to check in and tag passengers’ name on baggage that they are unaware of and which does not belong to them.
“We have a recent incident at the Kano Airport where a passenger was arrested in Saudi Arabia and he denied ownership of the bag.”
“Through the CCTV at the Kano airport, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency officials discovered that he was innocent, as the bag was checked in and tagged in his name by an airline staff.”
“Henceforth, such airlines will be penalized once we discover that such a thing happened on their flight.”
Marwa further added that the move is as a result of the increasing number of Nigerians suffering in foreign prisons and also the recent execution of a Nigerian woman for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia.