The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Ahmadu Giade, says convicted drug traffickers have exploited the loopholes in the legal system to evade serving their jail terms.

Giade said about 197 drug traffickers, who had been sentenced to various jail terms by the Federal High Court in Lagos, were aided by a cartel to evade serving full jail terms.

The NDLEA chairman spoke on Monday in Badagry, Lagos, during the destruction of 18,791.6 kilogrammes of illicit drugs recovered from traffickers.

He said, “The agency discovered that the criminal act took place between the court and the prison after an accused had been tried and sentenced. The plot was uncovered by the NDLEA when a drug convict who ought to be in prison was re-arrested while attempting to smuggle drugs at the Kano airport.

“A cartel has aided no fewer than 197 convicted drug traffickers to evade serving their full sentences. The police investigated and confirmed my findings that the convicts were left off the hook with the connivance of some court clerks and prison warders.”

Giade appealed to stakeholders to be dutiful in the execution of their responsibilities and shun practices that could jeopardise the fight against drug trafficking and other criminal acts.

He said, “Drug trafficking is a transnational organised crime capable of undermining global security. This has degenerated in some regions of the world into political and social instability with negative impact on the rule of law, human rights and economic development.

“In some cases, illicit proceeds of opium and cocaine smuggling are used in funding acts of terrorism and insurgency.”

He added that the destroyed drugs were intercepted by the agency’s operatives attached to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport and Seme Border Special Area Command.

Attempts to get reactions of the Nigerian Prisons Service, Lagos State Command, proved abortive as calls made to the line of its spokesperson, ASP Biyi jeje, rang out.

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