The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Anambra State Command says it arrested forty-four persons suspected to be dealing in illicit drugs between April to September this year.
The Commander of the Agency in the state, Mohammed Idris made this known in the second and third quarter report made by the agency and released to journalists in Awka.
Mr Idris explained that out of the forty-four suspects arrested, four were females while nineteen of the suspects who were found to be culpable will face prosecution.
According to him, the remaining suspects were referred to a rehabilitation centre for counselling.
The Commander pointed out that as at today, the agency had secured eleven convictions, from the previous arrests it made.
He, however, acknowledged that the agency had some challenges arraigning suspects at the Federal High Court in Awka, due to Covid-19 pandemic but emphasized that the agency recorded a significant improvement on the seizure of illicit drugs in the state within the period under review.
“Among the items seized during the period were about two tons of illicit drugs, consisting of one-seven-two- zero kilogrammes of Cannabis Sativa, zero-point- two-one-zero crystalline methamphetamine, five thousand tablets of tramadol, about ten thousand, four hundred and eighty-one tablets of Diazepam and two-point one litres of cough syrup with codeine,” he revealed.
Idris said the operations of the agency were restricted to specialized operations during the period under review because of the issue of coronavirus in the country.
The NDLEA boss reiterated his call on well-meaning people of the state to assist the agency in the fight against illicit drugs by providing timely information to the command.
Concluding, Idris assured people of the state that the command would do all it could to reduce to the barest minimum, the demand and supply of illicit drugs in the state.
