343 suspects in NDLEA custody over drug-related offences

No fewer than 343 suspects were recently apprehended by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA in Abuja for possession of illicit drugs and other drug related offences.

Mr Kabir Tsakuwa, Commandant of the agency in Abuja, the federal capital territory, disclosed this in a recent interview.

The commandant revealed that while the suspects, comprising 328 males and 15 females were arrested, about 3,091.032 kilogrammes of suspected illicit drugs were also seized.

He said these arrests and confiscated drugs span between January till date.

According to him, the confiscated illicit drugs worth over N56.9 million. They included suspected cannabis sativa, cocaine, Methamphetamine, Heroin, Tramadol, Rohypnol, Diazepam, Ecstasy, and Megadon.

Meanwhile, Tsakuwa also stated that within the period under review, 188 drug offenders were prosecuted while 126 had been convicted and sentenced to various jail terms.

According to him, out of the 3,091.032kgs of illicit drugs seized between January and now, cannabis sativa accounted for the largest seizure.

In his words, Tsukuwa said, “Drugs seized were cannabis sativa 3,022.529 kilogrammes, cocaine 0.114 kilogramnes, Methamphetamine 1.25 kilogrammes, Heroin 0.0021 kilogrammes.

“We also seized suspected Tramadol 18.578 kilogrammes, Rohypnol 1.195 kilogrammes, Diazepam 4.471 kilogrammes, Ecstasy 0.113 kilogrammes and Megadon 0.263 kilogrammes.

“The monetary value of these drugs stands approximately N56, 903, 600 only.”

The NDLEA boss said that 33 persons with drug use disorder were rehabilitated, while 102 drug users had been counselled and released within the period, addng that the agency, in collaboration with other security agencies will participate in a joint operation within the FCT to dislodge shanties and hot spots in the FCT.

These, he said, were areas where drug abuses and criminality were suspected to be thriving.

Recall that Xclusiveloaded had earlier reported that in Gombe, a state in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria, the NDLEA had recently apprehended no fewer than 214 persons suspectedly involved in drug abuse and other drug-related offences.

In another development, The Kwara State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency also recently arrested three men for allegedly involving in the supply of illicit drugs in different locations of the state.

Following their arrest, the NDLEA commander in the state, Mohammed Ibrahim who spoke to journalists recently in Ilorin, the state capital said efforts aimed at reducing the supply of hard drugs in the state were ongoing adding that the three arrests were made within one week.

The NDLEA state commander described one of the suspected drug traffickers, Nwankwo Innocent, as a major supplier of psychotropic substances in the state capital.

He added that the two other suspects, Solomon Sonowo and Abubakar Tijani, were arrested for drug-related offences.

He said, “In the past week, the command intercepted 4kg of cannabis sativa which is Indian hemp, meth and methamphetamine from one Solomon Sonowo aged 24 at Bode Saadu, in the Moro Local Government Area of the state.

“Abubakar Tijani, aged 33, was also arrested at Bode Saadu with 14kg of cannabis sativa.

“There was also an arrest of one of the major distributors of psychotropic drugs in Kwara State, who gave his name as Chidi Godwin. He was arrested last year with a name given as Chidi Jonathan. The development aroused our interest to dig further with a visit to his house and found out that his real name is Nwankwo Innocent. He’s a notorious supplier of psychotropic substances in the state. He has no shop, meaning that he is not a registered patent medicine seller."

“He sends his consignment from Lagos State and the goods were intercepted on August 12. He was called to come and collect his consignment. He was arrested thereafter. The exhibits include tramadol weighing 1.95Kg, Diazapham of 2.95Kg and 179 grams of Pentazocine.”

He said the three suspects would be charged after the investigation.