While the job of fighting the drug war is a herculean task, officers of the National drug law enforcement agency are paying the supreme price. In the last five years, several volumes of narcotics were seized by the Agency in different parts of the country. The recent discovery of methamphetamine production laboratories has further added to the burden of checking illicit drugs in the country.
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Ahmadu Giade, has raised concern over the health and security implication of illegal methamphetamine production in the country. According to the anti- narcotic agency, in all, five methamphetamine production factories were located by the Agency with four production factories in Lagos State and one in Anambra State, as well as the arrest of foreign drug kingpins who specialize in the establishment of methamphetamine production laboratories were among the feat of the Agency in 2012.
While the discovery of these laboratories is a major breakthrough, the jobs of keeping watch over the laboratories and the exhibits however have dire consequences for the staff. Investigation revealed that staff of the anti-narcotic agency stationed to guard these methamphetamine laboratories as well as the exhibit keepers are faced with health challenges due to the deadly nature of methamphetamine.
One of such staffs guarding the clandestine laboratory discovered in Lagos State in 2011 said they are faced with serious health challenges. The staff said: “Since the discovery of that laboratory in Lagos in 2011, we have been manning the place to the detriment of our health. The staff manning the sites have fallen ill because we are sent there to keep watch over the place but there are no gadgets and equipment to keep us safe. There is nothing to cover our nose, nothing to cover our eyes or body. Nobody sent to that place stays for long as they fall ill easily due to one or two infections like bleeding noise and severe headache. The anti-narcotic agency has been reshuffling staff sent to the sites but there is no measure to keep us safe except that they told us to stay far away from the laboratory. Staff just keep asking to be posted out of the sites but those who cannot secure a transfer usually fall ill and use that as excuse to get transfer.”
While the staff stationed at the clandestine laboratories may be “lucky” to fall ill with headaches and nose bleeding, it was further gathered that exhibit keepers of these narcotics are faced with strange illnesses and eventual death. A source said exhibit keeping in NDLEA is a dreaded job. The source said: “Our exhibit keepers don’t usually stay long. They fall ill easily and we have like two deaths already. The seized drugs are usually kept in an exhibit room and staff are stationed to keep watch over them but that place is a death zone and staff dread the place because the health hazard are not checked and these staffs fall ill and die.”
Gaide, while revealing the deadly nature of the methamphetamine laboratory said the discovery of the clandestine laboratory is the first of its kind in West Africa. He said: “The substance is highly addictive and a derivative of Amphetamine. Long-term methamphetamine abuse has many negative health consequences, including extreme weight loss, severe dental problems also known as “meth mouth”, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, mood disturbances, and violent behaviours. Other psychotic features include paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and delusions such as the sensation of insects crawling under the skin. Methamphetamine laboratories pose a serious health danger to the society. The risk of infection is also very high even after several years of abandonment. The chemicals and the gasses emitted during production are highly injurious. It can cause hallucination. Even residents living close to a production area are also at risk.”
As deadly as this drug is, staff of the Agency stationed to guard the clandestine laboratories have continued to carry out this function without the necessary health safety precaution and equipment. A staff said: “It is our job to guard the place but we need safety measures. Just asking us to stay far away from this laboratory is not enough. This is a very lethal drug and the effect may not be immediate but we know that the health hazard is real because when the foreign forensic experts from the US visited the laboratory, they wore hi tech garments that covered them from the head to the feet. The equipment they used were superb.”
Describing what methamphetamine looks like, Gaide said: “The drug is a white odourless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or
alcohol and it is usually taken orally or intra-nasally by snorting the powder or by the needle injection or by smoking.” Street names for methamphetamine, a derivative of Amphetamine, include “speed”, “meth”, “chalk”, “ice”. Crystal” and “glass”. Giade added: “It is a strong stimulant that affects the central nervous system. The abuse of even a small amount of methamphetamine can lead to many negative and long term effects like extreme weight loss, severe dental
problems also known as “meth Mouth” anxiety, confusion, insomnia, mood disturbance, violent behaviour and other psychotic features like hallucination.”
Medical experts warn that most chemicals found in such laboratories are flammable, corrosive and toxic. Methamphetamine is also highly combustive and can be used for explosives. Unprotected exposure to such chemicals could cause headaches, watery or burning eyes, burning skin, coughing or choking feeling, weakness and dizziness.
In order to curtail the adverse effect the drug poses to the environment, the NDLEA boss said forensic experts from the US help “dismantle the laboratory in a safe manner and they have commence the cleanup process.” Unfortunately, despite the cleansing process, the adverse effect of the drug will continue. Giade added: “The process adopted in the production of methamphetamine by the suspect is very dangerous as the process usually emits gases like phosphine and hydrogen chloride that can cause instant pulmonary damages and death. Besides, the toxic waste that percolated the soil is capable of contaminating the soil and the wells of surrounding premises.”
At a meeting with the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Giade said the agency is collaborating with the state government to carry out scientific testing of soil and water in areas where Illegal drug manufacturing factories were discovered in the state. This will enhance the assessment of the environmental impact of the wastes generated by the illegal factories and seek ways to arrest the ugly development.
Giade said: “Methamphetamine is fast becoming the choice of drug barons due to its increasing demand and rising value in other continents. This is a catalyst for the proliferation of clandestine laboratories and we need to collaborate to check the ugly trend. Money in hands of criminal gangs exposes the state to the associated risk of terrorism financing, money laundering, political violence and murder. There is also the threat of creating local market for the drug, thus increasing the number of drug addicts.”
The first laboratory was discovered in Lagos in a three bedroom bungalow located at Monkey village at Iba area in 2011. Others were discovered at the Daily Times Estate, Satellite Town; Silver Estate, Isolo; and Lekki. The fifth one was discovered in Nanka, Anambra State. These are the first known cases of such laboratories in the entire West African sub-region.
The laboratory located in Iba, a suburb in the Lagos State, has a locally built equipment that has the capacity of procuring 20-50 kilogrames per cycle. It is a large production centre similar to the ones found in Mexico. One kilogramme of methamphetamine has a street value in Nigeria of N2.4 million, while in Japan it costs N13.3 million for a kilogramme. In Singapore, a kilogramme of methamphetamine has a street value of N18 million.
Foreigners involved in the clandestine laboratory are Colombian methamphetamine production expert, Gonzelo Osorio, also known as Fabian Arcila, and Baez Benitez Milan. They were on a $38,000 weekly contract. Their Nigerian counterparts in crime are Gabriel Onyebuchi Obi, Anthony Ebi, Olisa Cyprian Onyebuchukwu, Mickey Ezeokoli, Solomon Ogbonna and Chidi Alexandra Efeagwazi. Twelve vehicles belonging to the syndicate were confiscated while the laboratories with all the equipments used for the production have been sealed by the agency, with staff stationed to guard the sites.
The penalty for production of illicit drugs in the country is life imprisonment. As a way of checking future incident, the Agency has urged members of the public to be vigilant and report all cases of drug production site to the agency.
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