Police impounds, destroys narcotic drugs worth sh2.9 billion

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Aviation Police (AVPOL) in collaboration with other security forces have impounded drugs worth sh2.9 billion shillings since the beginning of the year.  The most confiscated drugs are cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine that were destroyed at Nsambya Police on Friday.

In the last 10 months, AVPOL working with the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), Crime Intelligence (CI), Internal Security Organization (ISO), and Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC), has seized 56.6kg of narcotic drugs either being sneaked in or out of the country via Entebbe Airport.

Juliet Baguma, the Officer in charge of AVPOL has said that 42.7kg of heroin have been seized alongside 6.6kg of cocaine and 7.2kg of methamphetamine. A kilogram of heroin on the black market costs $10,000 to $15,000, cocaine goes for $15,000 to $20,000 while methamphetamine costs $20,000 and above.

However, the prices of narcotic drugs also depended on the scarcity. If there are stringent operations against narcotic drugs in the US and Europe, the smugglers become few and the prices skyrocket. Italy police last month arrested 58 suspected drug traffickers in an operation that stretched to Spain.

The group had drugs valued at 44.2 million euros. The Italy operation came on the heels of an operation conducted by EUROPOL leading to the arrest of 16 suspected drug smugglers.

Baguma said most of the intercepted drug traffickers are Ugandans followed by Nigerians, Indians, Cameroonians, Senegalese, and Tanzanians. “All the intercepted Ugandans were trafficking the drugs to different countries like Brazil, India, Australia, Qatar, Riyadhi in Saudi Arabia, Sharjah in India, to mention but a few,” Baguma said.

In 2020 and 2021, drug traffickers arrested at the Airport had spent days in many of the luxurious hotels in Kampala and they claimed that they were taking consignments of bigwigs in government and security agencies although they did not mention them. One of the challenges AVPOL and CID have been facing is securing a conviction of foreigners who are in most cases rescued by powerful individuals and swiftly deported.

Baguma said drug traffickers are very skilled and this beats their capability to curtail their activities. “Inadequate training in the investigations of narcotic drugs and limited exposure to the diverse skills and tools of enforcement. We have a problem of limited financial facilitation required for our investigations towards the fight since our operations are intelligence-led,” Baguma said.

Another reason Baguma has cited in a report as to why drug smugglers beat their intelligence is the lack of body scanners to help them expedite the identification of suspects who swallow the drug pellets. “There is a need to widen our intelligence with international contacts for effective operations. The current National Drug Policy and Authority is too weak to handle drug criminals thus making our Airport a transit route,” SP Baguma said.

Unlike the US which has over the year extradited drug traffickers from various parts of the world, most African countries including Uganda usually fail to follow up with the suspects once they have slipped through the Airports.

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