Courier industry plays a very important role in the nation’s economy. The contribution of this industry towards economic growth and prosperity through improved productivity, provision of employment, trade facilitation, increase in investment capital and revenue to the nation cannot be overlooked. However in spite of the positive contributions , there are ways of how not to do the business which some unscrupulous individuals tend to exploit due mostly to the speedy nature of the express service .
Recent revelations from countries’ authorities in charge of illicit drug business point to the fact that drug barons are using the channel to send hard drugs across to their accomplices scattered around the world.
Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho , director general /secretary National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had sometime emphasized that the use of courier services as a legitimate business structure for drug trafficking is one of the specialized areas utilized by organized criminal groups around the world today. He said that this strategy is to cover the tracks of the criminal group by hiding under the anonymity of postal services to ship their merchandize of death even as he revealed that most illegal drugs that are sent by post use fictitious names, post office boxes and private mail boxes thereby making investigations difficult.
Further, Ipinmisho stated that beyond anonymity, these harbingers of death make use of the speedy nature of courier services.” Beyond anonymity, speedy delivery of goods is another advantage drug traffickers exploit in the use of courier services. As it is the trend in the advanced world, after they conclude their deals by buying and selling drugs on the internet, traffickers resort to the courier houses for speedy deliveries. By so doing, the burden of proof of possession shifts from the trafficker, while there is also minimal risk of law enforcement detection or interdiction”, he said .
Drug business is a dangerous business and combining it with the express business is a more dangerous development. Osadolor Eboigbodin, general manager EMS/Speedpost in a recent lecture disclosed that the post worldwide is experiencing attempts by individuals and business people to use the postal network to send, receive and trade on scam and narcotic drug items such as heroin and cocaine and that in response to this EMS is effectively collaborating with security agencies to check and the menace and people involved.
The growing trend in using the courier companies in drug business is also occasioned by developments in information and communication technologies. The marketplace for all items and products including the lawful and illegal ones is no longer limited by space. Everything can now be sold and bought online including life and death.
Drug traffickers are very creative in their modes of concealment of hard drugs. Some of the ways are through hard cover books including the bible and qu’ran, picture frames, photo albums, sculptures/artifacts, computer components/electronics, spare parts, textile materials, foot wears, baby toys, can foods among others.
The challenge is not peculiar to Nigeria alone as other countries have their own stories to tell. One good thing is that law enforcement officers all over the world are working round the clock to ensure that this illegal practice is seriously checked.