Cablegate: Increased Drug Seizures at Lagos Airport

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS ABUJA 001572

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR INL AND AF

ROME FOR DEA - R.FIANO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR NI
SUBJECT: INCREASED DRUG SEIZURES AT LAGOS AIRPORT

1. Since the beginning of April 2002, the National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) unit at Lagos'
Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos
has reported seizures of cocaine and heroin amounting
to 40 kilograms. All of these narcotics shipments
were either entering Nigeria from known source areas
or departing for consumer countries.

2. The seizures include:

a) April 7: The seizure of 820 grams of white heroin
carried internally by a courier arriving in Lagos from
Lahore, Pakistan via Kenyan Airways (transiting
Nairobi).

b) April 12: The seizure of 2.5 kilograms of white
heroin carried in hand luggage by a courier attempting
to board a Lufthansa flight for Frankfurt (onward
destination, if any, unknown).

c) April 20: 29 kilograms of brown heroin (heroin #3)
and 900 grams of white heroin found in unclaimed
baggage arriving from Bombay on Ethiopian Airways
(transiting Addis Ababa)

d) May 3: 1.083 kilograms of white heroin carried
internally by a courier attempting to board an Air
France flight for onward connection to Newark, New
Jersey.

e) May 7: 5.1 kilograms of cocaine carried concealed
in clothing (body wrap) by a courier attempting to
board a British Airways flight to London.

3. Comment: DEA's close collaboration with the NDLEA
unit at MMIA, and INL assistance to the same unit,
have led to new strategies to detect and interdict
heroin and cocaine transiting Lagos; these seizures
indicate that this cooperation is paying off. These
successes also underscore the continued use of Nigeria
as a transit area for South Asian heroin bound for
consumer markets in the U.S. and Europe.
JETER

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