The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has said it has yet to establish any link between drug barons and the Boko Haram sect or any other terror group in Nigeria.
In response to SUNDAY PUNCH’s enquiry, NDLEA’s Head of Public Affairs, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju, said though the agency had been probing all cases of drug seizures and arrests, it has yet to establish any link between drug trafficking and terrorism in Nigeria.
Ofoyeju said the agency had not found any evidence linking Boko Haram with drug barons it has arrested or proceeds of drug deals it has investigated.
He said, “We have not established that. For now, those people are still faceless, we’ve not been able to establish any link between drug trafficking and terrorism in Nigeria, for now.
“Globally, there is usually a link between drug trafficking and terrorism, but for now, we’ve not been able to establish any link. Every drug seizure we make, we carry out investigation into it, but we have not linked any to Boko Haram.”
Ofoyeju had in June 2013, told SUNDAY PUNCH that NDLEA had begun investigations into the finances of drug barons for possible links with the Boko Haram sect and other terror groups operating in northern Nigeria.
He said the agency was aware of the possibility of terrorist activities in the North being funded through drug deals.
The NDLEA spokesman had reacted to a report published by the Director, Inter-University Centre for Terrorism Studies, USA, Yonah Alexander, in February 2013, which stated that Boko Haram and JAMBS, were being funded by drug cartels in Latin America.
The report entitled, ‘Terrorism in Northern Africa and the Sahel in 2012: Global Reach and Implications,’ said the Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb, had aligned with many other groups, including Boko Haram and Ansaru, in order to expand its sources of funding.
It stated, “Primary sources of financing of their activities include kidnapping (in some cases, kidnapping is outsourced to criminals), piracy and illicit trafficking of drugs, human, vehicles and other contraband goods.
“Intelligence reports and arrests have confirmed that AQIM has established links with Latin cartels for ‘drugs-for-arms’ smuggling into Europe through terrorist-trafficking networks in the Sahel.”
The report has remained the only documented clue to the financing of the Boko Haram sect, which has carried out several attacks, since 2010, killing thousands of people and destroying property in the North.
Copyright PUNCH.
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