‘Many have learnt Irish’
The figures — compiled by the UN using data from individual countries — have not been published previously in Ireland.
They show Nigerians account for between 30% and 50% of those arrested for cocaine trafficking at the country’s airports and ports in the past three years. The UN said some have even learned Irish.
“Nigerians have held a prominent place in Irish drug markets for some time, and some have even learned to speak Gaelic,” said the UN in a report.
“Although the numbers involved are much smaller than for many other countries, there were more Nigerians arrested for cocaine trafficking in Ireland than Irish and there were Ghanaians in the market as well.
“This is unusual — most countries arrest a good deal more of their own citizens for drug offences than foreigners.”
The figures show Irish nationals accounted for between 13% and 17% of cocaine trafficking arrests between 2005 and 2007.
The information was obtained from raw Customs data and covers those caught at airports and ports. It does not include Garda figures.
The report — Drug Trafficking as a Security Threat in West Africa — said most Nigerian couriers were probably employed by Nigerian traffickers.
Commenting on the high number of Nigerian traffickers arrested, the head of Customs Drugs Law Enforcement, Michael Colgan said the figures “would indicate there are gangs of that nationality involved” and that they had an availability of fellow nationals to bear the risk of smuggling.
The UN report said South American cartels were using poor security along the west African coast to pour cocaine into Europe.
The UN said west African, typical Nigerian gangs, have become major players in transporting cocaine into Europe.
The data shows that significant numbers of other west African nationalities are involved in trafficking into Ireland, including people from Ghana and Sierra Leone. South Africans were also prominent in 2007, accounting for 17% of arrests, the same percentage as Irish nationals.
In all, Africans account for more than half of all arrests in 2005 and 2007 and for nearly a third of arrests in 2006.
Nigerian gangs are suspected of controlling most of these other African couriers. Their influence doesn’t end there, with Customs believing that a percentage of eastern Europeans were working for Nigerian gangs.
“Some eastern Europeans appear to be recruited by west African groups on account they have EU passports and are entitled to freedom of movement within the EU and would encounter less controls,” said Mr Colgan.
Figures show that Polish nationals accounted for between 7% and 10% of all arrests over the three years, with Estonian nationals accounting for 17% of arrests in 2006,higher than for Irish nationals (13%).
