HIV/AIDS is not a license to drug trafficking.

  The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. said that being HIV positive is not a license for drug trafficking.

The Nigerian chairman of the agency, Ahmadu Giade, said this on Tuesday following the arrest of a drug suspect who claimed to be HIV positive.

He said the suspect was arrested with 1.250kg of cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos on August 7.

Mr Giade said that the suspect, a dual citizenship of Nigeria and Britain, was carrying a British passport (name withheld). He was apprehended during the screening of passengers on Virgin Atlantic flight to London.

"No drug trafficker is special because they are equal under the law. The suspect claims that he is positive for HIV/AIDS; it has nothing to do with the alleged offence of unlawful exportation and possession of narcotics.

"We have a responsibility to arrest drug offenders and charge them to court not withstanding their health status," Mr Giade said.

The NDLEA boss commends that the suspect would be taken to a clinic for confirmation of the claim, adding that investigation into the case had commenced.

"The agency will not accord any special treatment on grounds of ill-health to drug traffickers," Mr Giade said.