MOSSAD AND THE BODY IN DIPLOMATIC BAGGAGE

He Was Smuggled as Diplomatic Baggage

The smuggling of 30 Kgs of gold in an UAE diplomatic baggage in Kerala yesterday,revives memory of the kidnap of a former Nigerian minister from London in a diplomatic baggage.

In July 1984, Umaru Dikko, a former Nigerian minister living in exile after a military coup, was kidnapped outside his London estate, packed in a shipping crate and driven to Stansted Airport, to be flown back to Lagos, where he stood accused of embezzlement and other crimes.

Alhaji Umaru Abdurrahaman Dikko was born on 31December 1936 in the small village of Wamba, close to Zaria in Kaduna State. As a young man Dikko worked for the BBC’s Hausa service. He has been at the vanguard of northern Nigerian politics since the 1960s when, then as a promising young politician he was instrumental in mobilising northern public opinion against Nigeria’s first military government headed by Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, and he was also secretary of the committee of northern politicians that toured the north to build support for the creation of states across the federation in 1966. By the time civilian democratic rule was restored in 1979, Dikko had matured into a wily and experienced politician.

The crate used for kidnap and Dikko

The early 1980s were marked by abundant government corruption. Since there was more money around, the asking price for kickbacks rose correspondingly and the corruption became unashamedly brazen. It was claimed that over $16 billion in oil revenues were lost between 1979 and 1983 during the reign of first elected President Shehu Shagari. Government ministry buildings would mysteriously burst into flames just before audits, making it impossible to discover written evidence of corruption. Shagari later claimed that he pleaded with his ministers to stop embezzling state funds but was simply ignored. Shagari said he simply gave up and prayed over the matter. 

No politician symbolised the graft and avarice under Shagari’s government more than the combative Transport Minister Umaru Dikko. Stories regarding Dikko’s corruption are legion. One such instance arises in the biography of an American contractorJerry Funk who had a contract with the Nigerian government. When the government was not performing its obligations under the contract, Funk took his complaint directly to Dikko. After listening to the contractor’s complaints, Dikko went into an adjacent room and emerged moments later with a suitcase full of money which the contractor estimated at approximately half a million US dollars. Dikko then said words to the effect that if the deal could be done a little “differently” ,life would be easier for both of them. Realising that he would be in Dikko’s pocket forever if he accepted, the contractor wisely refused the offer (Life Is an Excellent Adventure: An Irreverent Personal Odyssey, by Jerry Funk).

Apart from being the Transport Minister, Dikko also headed a notorious presidential task force charged with alleviating food shortages by distributing imported rice. The task force was accused of hoarding rice to artificially exacerbate existing food shortages in order to drive prices up further, and of issuing import licenses to businessmen with connections to the ruling NPN party. Dikko’s name became synonymous with corruption. In many ways Dikko became the 1980s answer to first republic Finance Minister Festus Okotie-Eboh who was similarly disliked by army officers,leading to his assassination during a military coup in 1966.  Dikko perhaps thought himself untouchable because he was President Shagari’s brother-in-law and had the President’s ear. 

Dikko had a way of rubbing people the wrong way. At a time of soaring inflation, scarce commodities and falling oil prices, Dikko’s contribution to a debate about poverty in Nigeria was to remark that things were not so bad, since after all Nigerians were not yet eating out of dustbins. He managed to antagonise even his colleagues in the ruling NPN. The NPN had an elaborate zoning system for the distribution of government portfolios - including the presidency. Since the presidency had been zoned to President Shagari (from the north), the multi-billionaire businessman, Moshood Abiola hoped he would benefit from the NPN’s zoning system. Abiola assumed that when President Shagari’s term of office expired, the NPN would “zone” the presidency to the south, and he would be allowed to run for President. When Abiola articulated his presidential ambition, he was rebuffed by Dikko who told him that “the presidency is not for sale to the highest bidder”. Abiola “retired” from politics soon after – totally exasperated with the NPN. Abiola was to remerge from the shadows to play a key role in Nigeria’s political history.

Shehu Shagari

Dikko made himself unpopular  also with military officers. Dikko knew that if a military coup occurred, he would be a marked man. He kept tabs on senior military officers by ordering covert surveillance on them. Dikko was playing a dangerous game given that the senior echelons of the armed forces officer corps were highly politicised and loaded with officers with significant coup plotting or military regime experience. Among such officers included the Director of Staff Duties and Plans Major-General Ibrahim Babangida, the GOC of the 3 armoured Division,Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, and brigade commander Brigadier Ibrahim Bako. There was political experience among the service chiefs too. Chief of Defence Staff Lt-General Gibson Jalo was a former SMC member, Chief of Army Staff Lt-General Mohammed Wushishi was the former Minister of Trade and Industries and Chief of Naval Staff Akin Aduwo was a former Military Governor. Babangida, Buhari, Jalo, Wushishi and Aduwo all served together under the military regime of General Obasanjo. Buhari complained to President Shagari that Dikko had ordered his movements to be monitored. Dikko had woken a sleeping tiger.

In October 1983 President Shagari was re-elected for his second and final term of office in an election that was marred by accusations of electoral malpractice. His campaign was managed by Dikko. 

Around 2:30 am on New Year's Day 1984, armed troops moved to strategic locations, set up roadblocks and took over the radio and television stations in Lagos. Communication lines were cut and airports, border crossings and ports were closed. In Abuja more troops moved to seal off the President's residence. At 7:00 am, normal programming was interrupted by martial music interspersed with the broadcast by a hitherto unknown army officer.

It was the monotone voice of Brigadier Sani Abacha, the commander of the 9th mechanised brigade in Ikeja.On the last day of 1983, President  Shagari was overthrown in an almost bloodless military coup as the army abandoned the barracks once again in order to “save this nation from imminent collapse”. The only casualty of the coup was Brigadier Ibrahim Bako who was shot while trying to arrest President Shagari in Abuja. The coup was financed by an extremely wealthy southern businessman that Dikko had upset earlier. The new military Head of State was the officer that Dikko had so antagonised earlier: Major-General Muhammadu Buhari. 

The new military regime suspended several parts of the constitution (primarily those relating to freedom of assembly, association and political activity), banned party politics, declared all borders closed, and began to arrest and detain ministers and officials from Shagari’s government on charges of corruption and embezzlement. The new Head of State Major-General Buhari’s first broadcast to the nation made it clear that the new regime would target corruption and corrupt former ministers.

 That placed Dikko squarely in the cross-hairs of the new regime. Armed soldiers went looking for him at his official quarters in Ikoyi, Lagosand ransacked it. Dikko claimed his family, son and elderly family were also harassed by the military authorities. With the assistance of friends and a fistful of raw cash, Dikko drove to Nigeria’s Seme border with the Republic of Benin. Bribing his way through the border he travelled to Togo’s capital Lome, and from there boarded a KLM flight to Londonvia Amsterdam. Contrary to popular belief, Dikko denies fleeing in disguise as a woman, and claims he was dressed in traditional male northern attire.

Muhammadu Buhari

In London Dikko joined a host of other distinguished Nigerian fugitives from justice. They included former ministers in Shagari’s government such as Adisa Akinloye (national chairman of the NPN), Joseph Wayas (former Senate President) and Richard Akinjide (former Attorney-General and Justice Minister).Dikko set himself up as an outspoken critic of the new military regime and launched continual verbal attacks upon it. He appeared on British TV, and granted interviews which condemned the Buhari regime. He quickly became number one name on Nigeria’s most wanted list.

Mossad Steps In

Nigeria supplied more than 50% of Israel’s crude oil in exchange for military hardware. From Israel’s perspective the continuation of the oil flow from a country with a high Muslim population was strategically important. The continuation of that flow was cast into doubt on 1 January 1984 when news of the coup reached Israel, and Israel became aware that Nigeria’s new military regime would be led by another Muslim,Buhari. Israel unsuccessfully tried to make contact with the new military regime.In his book on Mossad entitled Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad, Gordon Thomas claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was concerned that the new regime might interrupt Israel’s oil supply from Nigeria. Israel saw an opening to gain favour with the new regime when Nigeria began to arrest leading politicians from the former government for corruption. With Dikko still at large and the regime unaware of his whereabouts, Israel offered to track Dikko down using its formidable intelligence agency Mossad.The new Nigerian regime may have solicited Mossad’s intervention. Several senior officers in the Nigerian army had long standing associations with Israeli businessmen and security agents.

Mossad’s Director Nahum Admoni travelled to Nigeria’s then capital Lagoson a Canadian passport to meet with  Buhari.Admoni offered to find Dikko and repatriate him to Nigeria to face justice.Buhari wanted not just physical custody of Dikko, but the location of the offshore accounts where Dikko had deposited the loot he embezzled from Nigeria, an undertaking by Israel to cooperate with Nigeria’s National Security Organisation (NSO), and for Israel to take no credit when Dikko was eventually captured. Admoni agreed and put his formidable resources within Mossad to work.The same modus operandi used in the capture of Adolf Eichmann,one of the major organizers of Holocaust,would be used in the planned capture of Dikko.Mossad put its extensive network of Sayanim to work. The Sayanim are non-Israeli Jews living outside Israel who assist Mossad. 

Info given to the Customs

 Sayanim across Europe were put on alert and memorised Dikko’s image and physical description. Doctors were told to look out in case Dikko came in for plastic surgery to change his appearance. Lookouts were posted at his favourite hotels, and clerks at car rental companies and airlines were on the lookout in case he rented a car or bought a plane ticket. Tailors were given his measurements and shoemakers were given his shoe size and details of his customised shoes. Publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell was tapped and asked to explore his high level contacts for news of Dikko’s whereabouts,according to Gordon Thomas.

Some Mossad agents set up base in London along with Nigerian Major (retired) Mohammed Ahmadu Jarfa Yusufu, a 40 year old former army officer. After the military coup that overthrew Shagari he was transferred to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs and posted to Nigeria’s High Commission in the UK in May 1984. Although Yusufu entered the UK on a diplomatic passport, the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office was not notified that he was a member of the Nigerian diplomatic mission.He had been planted for the specific purpose of taking part in the Dikko operation.

Two separate groups of undercover agents worked underground among London’s Nigerian community. The search was narrowed to west London where many Nigerian officials had opulent residences purchased with embezzled Nigerian state funds. The Dikko trail seemed to be running cold until a chance encounter during the summer of 1984. On 30 June 1984 a Mossad agent spotted a man fitting Dikko’s description in London’s wealthy Bayswater neighbourhood. The agent surreptitiously followed Dikko on foot to a house at number 49 Porchester Terrace. For several days the house was continuously watched by the agents, and Dikko’s routine and movements were noted.

The plans for Dikko’s capture were assembled by a small team. It involved making arrangements to capture, anaesthetise, and then transport Dikko out of the UK to Nigeria to face trial. Dr Levi-Arie Shapiro was a 43 year old Israeli national, a consultant and director of the intensive care unit at Hasharon hospital in Tel Aviv. “Lou” Shapiro was also a reserve Major in the Israeli army. Shapiro was recruited into the plot by a 27 year old Mossad field officer named Alexander Barak who gave him money to purchase anaesthetics which would be used to stupefy Dikko. Barak was from the Israeli coastal town of Netanya and came from a family of diamond dealers. Another Mossad field officer named Felix Abithol (31 years old) arrived in London on July 2, 1984 and checked into the Russell Square hotel. Meanwhile Major Yusufu hired a van which would be used to convey Dikko once he had been captured. Strangely, Yusufu’s men opted to hire a bright conspicuous canary yellow van.

Nahum Admoni

On 4 July 1984 a Nigerian Airways Boeing 707 cargo plane flew in with no cargo from Lagos and landed at Stansted airport. The UK authorities were informed that the plane had come in to collect diplomatic baggage from the Nigerian High Commission in London. Several Nigerian security officers were onboard the plane and had orders not to leave the airport.

The next day Major Yusufu drove the van he had rented from Notting Hill Gate in west London and parked outside Dikko’s house on Porchester Terrace. With Yusufu in the van were Dr Shapiro, Barak and Abithol.Back at Stansted airport the Captain of the Nigerian Airways plan that landed the day before filed a departure time of 3pm and claimed that on its way back to Nigeria, the plane would be carrying “documentation” for the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs. Diplomatic immunity was claimed for the “documentation”.

Just before lunchtime Dikko emerged from the house in Porchester Terrace for a midday interview with a Ghanaian journalist named Elizabeth Akua Ohene. Ohene was then the editor of Talking Drum magazine but later became a Minister of State in Ghana’s Ministry of Education. As Dikko walked, two men burst out from the yellow van parked outside his house, grabbed him and forced him into the back of the van. Within seconds the van doors had closed and the van sped away at break-neck speed. Quick, surgical and precise, it was a typical Mossad operation. Inside the van Dikko was dumped on his back and handcuffed. After traversing through London’s busy streets the van eventually came to a halt. Dikko was initially relieved and thought his kidnappers had been stopped by the police.They had simply stopped to refuel. Dikko was told to keep quiet as his captors refuelled. At a predetermined rendezvous point near Regent’s Park, Dikko was transferred to a waiting lorry. Dr Shapiro went to work and injected Dikko in the arm and buttock with a powerful anaesthetic. Dikko lost consciousness.

Dikko,final years

Through a window Dikko’s secretary Elizabeth Hayes witnessed Dikko being bundled into the van. The astonished secretary managed to compose herself enough to quickly dial 999,the UK’s emergency services number, and alerted the authorities of the incredible incident she just witnessed. Given Dikko’s profile as a former Nigerian government minister, the call was quickly escalated and within minutes police arrived at the scene, closely followed by officers from Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad. The Foreign Office and the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were also alerted. All customs officials at airports, ports and border crossings were told to be extra vigilant with regard to Nigeria bound vessels.

There was a second hitch. When subsequently interviewed by Israel’s biggest selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Alexander Barak said "In retrospect, I found out that the main culprit had been Group Captain Banfa, formerly head of the Nigerian air force and now CEO of Air Nigeria. This guy was supposed, according to the plan, to meet at 9:00 am with Yusufu and Dr. Shapiro at the apartment in London and give them the right documents and join us, to supervise the loading of the diplomatic crates at Stanstead Airport. But at the last minute Banfa got cold feet." The absence of the correct diplomatic documents would come back to haunt the kidnappers.

By mid-afternoon on 5 July 1984 Dikko had been anaesthetised into unconsciousness by Dr Shapiro, locked into a crate and taken to Stansted airport. However at Stansted there was no visible sign of Dikko, Shapiro, Abithol or Barak. Instead a lorry ferried two crates to the airport. The lorry was escorted by two black Mercedes Benz cars bearing Nigerian diplomatic licence plates. Shortly before 3 pm two crates labelled "diplomatic baggage" and addressed to the Nigerian Ministry of External Affairs in Lagos were being loaded onto the Nigerian Airways plane. The crates were 1.2 meters in height, 1.2 meters in depth and 1.5 meters in width. They were accompanied by Major Yusufu and a member of the Nigerian High Commission in London named Okon Edet. Having been warned by the security forces to be wary, customs officers were unusually inquisitive and vigilant.

Elizabeth Akua Ohene

A customs officer named Charles Morrow noticed an unusual medical smell,probably the powerful medical anaesthetic sodium pentathol,and a noise emanating from one of the crates. Although the 707 was minutes away from take off, this gave Morrow an excuse to use red tape to get a closer look at the crates. On the pretext that the crates did not have the correct official seal, Morrow insisted on having a closer look at them. Major Yusufu protested furiously that the crates were protected by diplomatic immunity and could not be searched. His vehement protests were dismissed and the customs officers opened the crates with a crowbar.

 In the first case was a bound and unconscious Dikko with his torso bare. Dikko’s captors had shoved an endo-tracheal tube in his throat to prevent him from choking on his own vomit when he was out cold, but he was still alive. They wanted him brought to Nigeria alive rather than dead. Beside him was Dr Shapiro brandishing syringes and a supply of additional anaesthetics with which to administer replenishments to Dikko. Dr Shapiro asked the customs officers “Well gentlemen, what do we do now?”. Abithol and Barak were found in the second crate. Dikko was rushed to Hertfordshire and Essex Hospital in Bishops Stortford. He regained consciousness at midday the following day having been unconscious for 36 hours. He awoke totally oblivious to the ensuing drama and his dramatic rescue, and received treatment at the hospital under heavy police guard. Barak later blamed Nigerian air force officer Bernard Banfa for the plan’s failure.

The governments of Nigeria and Israel denied involvement in the crime. Immediately after the abduction, Britain detained airliners bound for Nigeria and vice versa, and relations between Britain and Nigeria, its former colony, were seriously chilled.

Of the original 17 suspects, 4 were tried:Barak, Shapiro, Abithol and Yusufu. The legendary defence barrister George Carman QC represented the defendants. Sticking to the traditional Mossad response of denying involvement, the defendants argued that they were mercenaries acting on behalf of Nigerian businessmen. The judge did not believe them and was convinced that Mossad was involved. The judge told the jury that “The finger of involvement almost certainly points to Mossad”. Even Carman’s famed legal skills could not prevent the defendants’ conviction:

Alexander Barak - 14 years
Mohammed Yusufu – 12 years
Levi-Arie Shapiro - 10 years
Felix Abithol – 10 years

After recovering, Dikko remained in London for another 12 years. He was confined at home under police guard for a year. In exile he fulfilled a childhood ambition by qualifying as a barrister. Dikko was eventually invited back to Nigeria in 1995 by the military regime of General Sani Abacha,who was a member of the government which tried to kidnap and forcefully repatriate him in 1984. On his return he formed a political party called the United Democratic Party (UDP).Dikko died on 1 July 2014 in London, where he was said to be receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness. 

Dikko’s survivors include a son, Dr. Bello Dikko, and a brother, Lamido Dikko. The Daily Independent of Lagos had said in its obituary that Dikko “left behind two wives, 11 children and many grandchildren.”

© Ramachandran