NDLEA Secures 9,043 Convictions, Arrests 52 Barons – Marwa
Saudi Arabia Executed 10 Nigerians, 90 Other Foreigners In 2024
By Kalu Idika
Report has it that over 10 Nigerians and more than 90 other foreigners were executed by the Saudi Arabia government in 2024.
This was disclosed by AFP which has been keeping count.
On Saturday, November 16, 2024, another execution took place in the South western Region of Najran.
The victim was a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf kingdom.
According to the tally compiled from state media reports, 101 foreigners were executed so far in 2024.
According to the report, this is almost triple the figures for 2023 and 2022, when Saudi authorities had put to death, 34 foreigners each year.
The Berlin-based European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) said this year’s executions had already broken a record.
The group’s Legal Director, Taha al-Hajji, said, “This is the largest number of executions of foreigners in one year. Saudi Arabia has never executĕd 100 foreigners in a year”.
Also according to Amnesty International, the oil-rich kingdom executed the third-highest number of prisoners in the world after China and Iran in 2023.
In September, the media reported that Saudi Arabia had carried out its highest number of executions in more than three decades, surpassing its previous highs of 196 in 2022 and 192 in 1995.
Executions have continued at a rapid clip since then and totalled 274 for the year as of Sunday.
Foreigners executed this year have included 21 from Pakistan, 20 from Yemen, 14 from Syria, 10 from Nigeria, nine from Egypt, 8 from Jordan, and seven from Ethiopia.
There were also three each from Sudan, India and Afghanistan, and one each from Sri Lanka, Eritrea and the Philippines.
Saudi Arabia in 2022 ended a three-year moratorium on the execution of drug offenders, and executions for drug-related crimes have boosted this year’s numbers.
There have been 92 such executions so far this year, 69 of them of foreigners, according to the AFP tally.
Diplomats and activists say that foreign defendants usually face a higher barrier to fair trials, including the right to access court documents.
Foreigners ‘are the most vulnerable group’, said Hajji of the ESOHR.
Not only are they often ‘victims of major drug dealers’ but also ‘subjected to a series of violations from the moment of their arrest until their execution,’ he said
The Chief Executive Officer, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig.-Gen Buba Marwa (rtd.) says the agency has secured 9,034 convictions in the last three years.
Marwa, who disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday during the Island Club Business luncheon, added that the agency also arrested 52,901 traffickers and 52 barons within the period under review.
The NDLEA boss said that most of the culprits were high-profile personalities in the society.
“That tells how deeply the rot had eaten into the fabric of our society.
“Within the period, we have seized 8.6 million kilogrammes of assorted illicit drugs and destroyed 1,572 hectares of cannabis farms,” he said.
Marwa noted that the high number of arrests and prosecutions was a significant achievement, showing the agency’s commitment to tackling the scourge of drug trafficking in the country.
In his welcome remarks, the Chairman of the Island Club, Rotimi Olasode Martins, acknowledged Marwa’s unwavering commitment to combating drug abuse.
Martins said that the NDLEA Marwa’s wealth of experience in tackling the scourge was commendable.
He described drug abuse as a menace that has infiltrated every layer of society, threatening the youth, destabilizing families, and undermining the socio-economic fabric of the nation.
“Today, we are gathered not only to discuss its devastating impact but, more importantly, to explore practical, sustainable solutions to this epidemic.
“This event exemplifies what Island Club has stood for since its inception – a hub for meaningful discourse, community engagement, and solutions-driven dialogue,” he stressed.
