In order to break the drug cartels on the Brazil-Nigeria route and to check the increasing traffic between the two countries; Emirates has introduced compulsory card payment only for Nigeria passengers travelling to Brazil.
The airline said it was embarrassed by the high record of drug couriers arrested on its flights and wanted to put a check on it and by paying with credit card the passenger or anyone who bought ticket on his behalf is exposed through the data contained in the credit card.
The Middle East airline said in a meeting with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Thursday that the policy of card payment only would checkmate growing activities of Nigerian drug cartels on the Brazilian route.
Spokesman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mitchel Ofoyeju said Brazil is one of the major routes for drug traffickers so it is on the agency’s watch list, noting that cocaine is produced in Brazil and neighbouring countries so the product is cheap in the region.
Ofoyeju also said that although Emirates did not consult the agency or partner with it but it is fully in support of what the airline is doing as long as it did not infringe on the rights of Nigerians.
The airline recently nullified the tickets of passengers on the Lagos-Dubai-Rio de Janeiro route and refused to airlift them because they bought their tickets through cash payment, which prompted the passengers to raise alarm and protested against the decision.
On the face value the airline’s action violated the directive of NCAA, which insisted that foreign airlines must accept Naira as medium of payment in Nigeria and this is in consonance with the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) Nigeria signed with other nations whose airlines operate into the country.
Emirates’ officials, however, said despite their challenges with repatriation of funds, the policy was not a rejection of the local currency, as a source at the meeting said NCAA officials accepted the reason – drug trafficking and efforts to curtail it – as genuine.
Spokesman of NCAA, Sam Adurogboye who confirmed the regulatory Authority support of Emirates Airlines new policy said, “Yes in a way. Because what they intend to achieve with the policy turned out to be revelation from the meeting we had with Emirate Airline officials over the alleged de – boarding of Nigerians – Brazil bound passengers.
The airline didn’t inform NCAA before the introduction of the policy and also they didn’t sensitize the public ahead of its take off. This was frowned at. However, l don’t want to dwell much on it because the issue involved security. It is not true that the airline is not collecting Naira.”
Also a source who was at the meeting between NCAA and Emirates said, “The airline noted that drug trafficking is becoming rampant on that route. Emirates discovered there have been series of airplane diversions on the route. This is on account of airborne passengers feeling sick and the aircraft having to divert, to save their lives.
“The sick passengers often turn out to be drug traffickers, made sick by the substances they were trafficking. And this is always happening to Nigerians. To detect the culprit, the airlines’ headquarters in Dubai had introduced credit card as mode of payment, to know who is who through electronic data. This helps Emirates to know who is eligible to go to Brazil and those that should not be given a chance. It is the airline’s strategy to curb drug trafficking, not an attempt to reject the naira,” the source explained.
Meanwhile, the airline said it has started the refund of fares to passengers affected by the policy, which took effect since September 22, 2016.
