Drugs trafficking, Abuse and Terrorism nexus

There is a strong nexus between Nigeria's war against terror and drug abuse.

Illicit drugs trafficking has historically served as a strong pillar in any insurgency.

From the Vietcong in Vietnam in the 60's and 70s, the heroin trade was a major source of financing, money laundering that kept the guerilla insurgents alive. 

In the Afghanistan-Pakistan region of South Asia (Af-Pak), local conditions provide an opportunity for terrorists to carry out their activities. A combination of corruption, porous borders, and a weak rule of law, has created an environment in which terrorists can operate. 

The poppy plant (from which heroin is synthesized) served as the central financial backbone of the raging insurgency sustaining the loop of violence in the Af-Pak region and threatening the fabrics of the Afghan & Pakistani societies.

The drug, human trafficking,g, and extortion serve to finance these organizations and sustain their networks, allowing them to engage in specific nodes within illicit supply chains. Groups such as the Taliban have been known to operate to achieve objectives, resembling organized criminal groups in modus operandi, motivated by a combination of profits as well as honor, revenge & ideology.

In Turkey, a group such as the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) has been known to toe the line between terrorism & organized crime engaging in several illegal economic operations such as humans/drugs trafficking & other forms of organized crime, including extortion and money laundering, among its activities. In addition to funding their operations through “typical” organized criminal activities. 

The longest-running insurgency in the world, the FARC militias heavily relied on coca (a plant that is processed to cocaine) trafficking, arms, men flowed as it was a veritable goldmine. Boko Haram and Banditry are twin evils gnawing at the fabrics of the northern society, a strong nexus with drug abuse can easily be established, drugs like tramadol and amphetamines serve to give 'superhuman stamina' making the abuser's senses numb to any form of fear. 

These drugs are also in the process of brainwashing & making potential suicide bombers more receptive and malleable. They are also the backbones of the recruitment and ideological brainwashing processes.

The national drug law enforcement agency (NDLEA) should be strengthened to be a more proactive body, the new leadership by brigadier general Buba Marwa rtd has breathed a new lease of life into the agency.

Effective partnership with the NIA, NFIU, and DSS will create a more intelligence-driven to the scourge of drug trafficking and abuse.

Drug abuse and trafficking effectively destroy the fiber of a society, its use makes the abuser indolent, ambitionless reduces him and the society by extension to a vegetative state.

Its national security implications cannot be overemphasized.

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Email: walinajeeb2@gmail.com