NDLEA arrests 1, 281 suspects, secures 93 convictions

Posted by admin Headlines, NDLEA (Anti-Drug Agency) Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, Kano State Command on Tuesday said it had arrested 1, 281 suspects with 358 of them arrested between January and June 2012.

Also, it said 93 people had been convicted of various drug offences during the period.

NDLEA Kano State Commander, Sumaila Nathan, told journalists, at a news conference to mark the United Nations Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking; that the arrests indicated dimension illicit drug was assuming.

He said, “An analysis of the 2011 scorecard of the NDLEA shows that the agency publicly destroyed 134, 000 kilogrammes of illicit drugs and 918 hectares of cannabis farmlands, seized over 195, 283 kilogrammes of various drug and arrested about 2, 000 suspects.

“Out of the total quantity of seized drugs, cannabis (locally produced in Nigeria and currently a nagging threat to the nation’s food security) constituted the largest with 191, 847. 91 kilogrammes.

The Sector Commander, NDLEA, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Mr. Umoru Ambrose, decried the spate of trafficking in Methamphetamine substance through the airport to Asian countries.

He, however, said his command had what it takes to curb the trend, stressing that in the last one year, it had confiscated 14.851 kilogrammes of narcotics out of which 13.851 kilogrammes were substances suspected to be Methamphetamine.

In a related development, the Anambra State Command said it had arrested 166 suspected drug peddlers and seized a total of 218 kilogrammes of illegal drugs within the last six months.

The Commander of NDLEA in Anambra, Mr. Thomas Zikiye, said this on Tuesday in Onitsha.

Zikiye further said out of the 166 suspects, 99 were males while 17 were females, adding that they were arrested in different parts of the state.

He said during the operations, 217.633 kilogrammes of illicit substances were also seized from the suspects.

“In the same period under review, the command secured six convictions in the cases prosecuted at the Federal High Court, Awka. All sentences which were with hard labour ranged from six months to one year and three months,” he said.

The Chairmen of the Ogbaru Main Market Patent Medicine Dealers Association and the National Illicit Drug Abuse Control Association, Chief Emebo Gilbert and Charles Orji, respectively said the fight against illicit drug trafficking was a collective one.

Also, the Kwara State Commander of the agency, Mrs. Omotunde Koleoso, on Tuesday said the command had successfully withdrawn 1,464,329 kilogrammes of various dangerous drugs from the state.

She added that this had eliminated their attendant health, psychological and social implication for the environment.

Koleoso said the command had arrested 76 drug offenders of which 17 were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment ranging from two months to 15 years.

-Punchwp_posts