The German government has donated six sniffer dogs and a Mercedes bus to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in order to improve its capacity to combat drug trafficking.
Announcing the development in Lagos on Tuesday, the NDLEA Director of Operations and General Investigation, Olugbenga Mabo, thanked the German government for its donation, emphasizing that sniffer dogs have helped the agency arrest at least 20 drug traffickers and seize a combined weight of 17,432kg of narcotic drugs between 2009 and 2017.
Among the drugs seized with the assistance of the trained dogs include heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Mabo said the addition of six new dogs would further boost the agency’s capacity to detect drugs concealed by traffickers.
With Germany’s donation, the NDLEA now has 14 sniffer dogs at its disposal.
“The contribution of the German government has made a tremendous impact on the operations of the agency at the airport, seaport and land borders. This additional support will ensure that more drug trafficking syndicates are dislodged,” Mabo said.
He also recalled that under the German canine support project to Nigeria, three officers recently completed a 16-week basic course at the Police Dog School in Neustadt, Saxony, Germany.
In her remarks, German Deputy Consul General, Alexandra Herr said that Germany was assisting the NDLEA in order to ensure that the Nigerian officials have the equipment necessary to fight drug trafficking.
“It is important to have the right tools to work and I commend the cooperation between Germany and Nigeria in combating drug trafficking through the aid of sniffer dogs. I am eager to see positive results in the canine operations of the agency,” Herr said.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.
