It is not uncommon for rock stars and perhaps mentally unstable people to become familiar with drugs or even abuse them. We have often heard about people suffering from financial constraints selling drugs; but what are we to think when politicians are arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs... Well that is exactly what happened to Eme Zuru Ayortor, a member of the Nigerian Edo state House of Assembly. Nigerian drug enforcement officials say Mr Ayortor swallowed nearly two kilograms of cocaine in order to fund his election campaign
Police say body scanners revealed the contents of his stomach as he attempted to board a flight to Frankfurt. Mr Ayortor, 52, is running in the Edo state House of Assembly election but it is not clear for which party. Mr Ayortor is a qualified pharmacist who studied at the University of Wisconsin in the US. Officers from Nigeria's drug law enforcement agency say they recovered 100 parcels of cocaine from the politician's stomach at Lagos' Murtala Mohammed International Airport. It is understood that Mr Ayortor told officers he needed the money because his last election campaign, in 2007, bankrupted him. He was arrested two weeks ago - police are now at the end of their investigation. They believe Mr Ayortor is part of a wider network and that this was probably not his first attempt to smuggle drugs.
Politicians in Nigeria have to raise large amounts of money at election time – I have heard much of it goes on bribing election officials and paying gangs of young men to intimidate voters, but do not quote me on that. Last month, customs officers at the same airport seized a consignment of military uniforms which they linked to politicians preparing for elections next year. Nigeria is a major transit route for drugs - from South America and Asia - to the US and Europe. More than 300 tonnes of narcotics were seized in the country last year. Drugs law enforcement officers in Lagos have only four police sniffer dogs to monitor the airports, land borders and a massive seaport. They privately complain they need many more sniffer dogs to do their work properly.
Not only have politicians been arrested this week for with handling illicit drugs but now, a Canadian doctor who has treated Tiger Woods and other elite athletes has been charged with supplying illegal drugs. Dr Anthony Galea is accused of giving unlawful drugs, including human growth hormone (HGH), to at least three US professional football players. The Toronto-based physician has denied any wrongdoing. Woods said recently he had been treated by Galea, but categorically denied using performance-enhancing drugs. Dr Galea was charged with unlawful HGH distribution, lying to US officials, conspiracy to defraud, smuggling and interstate commerce with the unapproved drug actovegin. Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf's blood, is illegal in the US and not approved for use in Canada. According to court documents, Dr Galea's clients include at least three current or former National Football League (NFL) players, one of whom allegedly had two HGH kits delivered to his home, while another received actovegin injections. Charges involved only unnamed NFL players, although Dr Galea is also known to have treated other sports figures, including world golf number one Tiger Woods and several prominent baseball players.
It is little comfort to know perhaps, that whilst a Nigerian was caught for a mere 2 kilograms, Lebanese customs officers seized 103 kilograms of cocaine in a record drugs bust at Beirut port, on Monday. Customs officials found the raw cocaine, hidden in the hydraulic machine of a goods lift, in the biggest drugs bust at the Beirut port to date. It is believed the cocaine was smuggled from Colombia through the Belgian port of Antwerp. It was worth around 10 million dollars and once processed and mixed, its street value would have been 30 million dollars. Sniffer dogs had not picked up on the scent because the cocaine was hidden beneath metal and engine oil, but officials noticed something was amiss when the machine went through the scanners. Authorities have since arrested a 79-year-old Lebanese man suspected of involvement in the smuggling.
Seven men have been jailed for twenty-two years for their part in a major drugs and firearms conspiracy spanning the UK, Europe and South America. Liverpool Crown Court heard the gang smuggled the weapons, and cocaine with a street value of £10m, into the UK. Police said the four-year investigation to convict them was complex. The investigation found that the drug dealers were smuggling cocaine, using Eastern European men as drug mules via numerous airports and ports across the UK.
I believe the sentences these criminals were given reflect the very serious nature of these crimes and, quite rightly, these people will now be spending a very long time behind bars. As a result of the policemen’s hard work, a large, sophisticated crime group, spanning the UK and mainland Europe, has been dismantled, preventing untold quantities of drugs and firearms being brought into Lancashire and prevented inevitable harm to local and wider UK communities. Not only does their incarceration provide some respite to the communities affected by their criminality, but it sends a very strong message to other criminal gangs that law enforcement will track them down…Now that is what I call good policing!
(This article was printed in the PM Newspaper on Wed 19th May, 2010. Page 5. Written by Fade Ogunro)
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