‘NDLEA secures 677 convictions, arrests 3,359 drug dealers, seizes 65,915.891kg of illicit drugs’
Buba Marwa CEO NDLEA
By Our Crime Desk
No fewer than 677 traffickers have been convicted and sentenced to various jail terms in 2022, while a total of 3,359 arrests were made by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and 65,915.891 kilogrammes of assorted drugs seized between January and March this year.
Spokesperson for the agency, Femi Babafemi , who disclosed this in a statement yesterday, said the feat was a testimony to NDLEA’s intensified war against illicit drug trafficking and abuse across Nigeria.
He said about 2,223 drug users were also counselled through its brief interventions and rehabilitated in NDLEA’s facilities across the country in the first quarter of the year.
According to Babafemi, the figures represent a fair balance between the agency’s drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities.
He said: “Lagos has the highest figure of drug seizures with 22,192.62 kilogrammes of illicit substances recovered from parts of the state, followed by the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA,) Command, Ikeja, also in Lagos, with 8,979.869kg of drugs seized between January and March, while Kano and Kaduna led the pack in the arrest of offenders with 194 arrests each within the same period.
“While a total of 257 hectares of cannabis farms were destroyed in forests across Ondo State, 14.869 hectares suffered the same fate in Edo and an hectare destroyed in Bayelsa State within the same period.
“A further breakdown of the drugs seized within the first quarter of the year shows cannabis leading the table in January with 8,205.75kg; followed by codeine, 414.281kg; Diazepam,192.459kg; Tramadol,135.067kg; Rohypnol, 43.062kg and cocaine, 24.32kg.
“In February, cannabis also topped the list of seizures with 20,538.79kg; codeine 1,848.052kg; tramadol -540.354kg; Diazepam -137.041kg; Rophynol, 80.261kg; cocaine, 15.727kg; Methamphetamine ,6.207kg and heroin, 4.006kg.
“Cannabis also topped the list of seizures in March with 21,583.81kg; followed by tramadol -8,965.319kg; codeine, 417.207kg; Diazepam -57.755kg; cocaine.45.082kg; Methamphetamine -7.527kg; Rohypnol, 6.34kg and heroin,1.497kg.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (Retd) has appreciated the commitment of officers and men of the agency for a commendable performance in the first quarter of the year.
He urged them not to rest on their oars, assuring them that every outstanding performance would always attract commensurate commendation and/or rewards.
