The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kano State says it has intercepted over 5.9 tons of illicit drugs from January to date.
The NDLEA Commander in the state, Alhaji Hamza Umar, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Kano.
According to him, in January alone, the agency seized over 2,593 tons, February over 3,288, while in March only 98.4 tons were seized.
Umar explained that “from January to date, we seized over 831kgs of Cannabis, Cocaine 0.5kgs and Tramadol over 4,848kgs.
He added that during their operations the agency seized over 107.7 grams of Diazepam, Pentasosin 150 grams and only 14 grams of Rohypnol was intercepted.
The commander said that the agency had arrested 122 suspects in connection with the illicit drugs, adding that in January 57 suspects were arrested, February 33 and another 32 from March 1 to date.
Umar said out of the 122 suspects that were arrested, 33 were convicted to various jail terms, while the others were still undergoing trial at the Federal High Court in Kano.
“During this three months period, we were also able to counsel 57 drug users that we arrested and those that were brought by either their parents or guardians,’’ he said.
According to him, the command recently arrested two suspected drug traffickers from Niger Republic together with two Nigerians who specialised in trafficking illicit drugs within Nigeria, Niger and other neighbouring Arab countries.
The NDLEA commander added that the suspects who were arrested with two land cruiser jeeps were currently facing prosecution.
He appealed to the general public to continue to give the agency all the necessary support in order to end the menace of drug abuse in the state.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxbDvUddDmA]
