US embassy cable - 01ABUJA2744

UNCLAS ABUJA 002744 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
FOR INL/AAE AND AF/W 
DEAHQS FOR OFE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: NDLEA USES PRESS CONFERENCE TO TOUT 
     INCREASED DRUG SEIZURES, NEW FOCUS ON SEA PORTS 
 
REF: ABUJA 2710 
 
 
 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
 
1.(U) Lagos-based media representatives were invited to 
a press conference at the NDLEA's Headquarters October 
18.  RNLEO and DEA Attache attended, along with the UK 
High Commission's Drug Liaison Officer.  Prior to 
parading out the six traffickers arrested at the Lagos 
airport in the last two weeks, NDLEA Chairman Lafiaji gave a 
short address and answered the media's questions.  The 
Chairman highlighted the recent Kano and Lago airports' 
drug seizures - totalling 12 kilograms of heroin, 3 
kilograms of cocaine, and 116 kilograms of ephedrine, 
the essential chemical in methamphetamine production. 
(Note:  The ephedrine seized represents one seizure made 
in August from air cargo arriving in Lagos. End Note) 
 
 
2.(U) The feature event, however, was the October 15 
seizured at the Lagos airport of 11.2 kilograms of 
Southwest Asian heroin found in the checked baggage of a 
Nigerian man returning from India via Addis Ababa on 
Ethiopian Airlines.  Lafiaji also noted that the 
previous night (October 17) NDLEA officers at the 
Lagos airport arrested a 62-year woman attempting 
to board the SAA/NA flight to New York/JFK, after 
discovering through an x-ray that she was carrying 
pellets of cocaine internally.  Lafiaji reported that 
cocaine and heroin seized to date in 2001 totals 124 
kilograms (89 kilograms of cocaine and 35 kilograms of 
heroin). Most of these seizures were the result of 
intelligence developed by NDLEA investigators. 
 
 
3.(U) Lafiaji also announced that the NDLEA now enjoys 
unrestricted access to Nigeria's sea ports.  This resulted 
from a Presidential decree signed shortly after the NDLEA 
Lagos Zonal Unit's seizure of 60 kilograms of cocaine at the 
Tin Can Island port on August 27.  With its newly expanded 
writ, the NDLEA has now decided to create five new Zonal 
Commands to handle the country's five main ports - Apapa, Tin 
Can Island, 
Calabar, Port Harcourt and Warri.  This will bring the 
total number of Zonal Commands up to 25 and will allow a 
greater concentration of NDLEA resources on port interdiction 
efforts. 
 
 
4.(SBU) In a side meeting with DEA Attache and RNLEO, the 
Chairman disclosed that on October 17 he had attended a 
meeting on money laundering chaired by the Vice 
President and including the Ministers of Justice and 
Finance.  Lafiaji claimed that a decision had been made 
to move ahead expeditiously to revise Nigeria's 
inadequate money laundering law and to create a 
Financial Crimes Commission (FCC) in order to address 
international concern over Nigeria's performance in this 
law enforcement area.  Lafiaji also proclaimed his 
support for a centralized anti-money laundering agency 
like the FCC, a noticeable change from his previous 
statements on the subject (reftel). 
 
 
Jeter