Retired Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested 3,834 suspected drug criminals and seized 39 tonnes of illicit drugs between January and August 2019, PRNigeria can confirm authoritatively.
A document obtained by PRNigeria also revealed that of the 3,834 suspects nabbed between January and August 2019, 3,465 were males while 369 were females as the agency secured a total of 150 convictions made up of 143 males and 7 females respectively.
According to the document, from the total number of tonnes of drugs seized, Cannabis Sativa weighed over 35 tonnes, while Opiates, Barbiturates and Tramadol intercepted were 1,653, 1,501 and 1,405 kilogrammes respectively.
Available data indicates that Cannabis Sativa was the only locally cultivated illicit drug in Nigeria, while Cough syrups with codeine content had been banned since 2018 because of its widespread abuse.
Other seizures include: 82 kg of Cocaine, 15kg of heroine, 64kg of Methamphetamine, 128kg of Ephedrine, while cough syrup with codeine content stands at 530kg which was banned since 2018 because of its widespread and unacceptable abuse by the drug users.
Further investigations revealed that the agency destroyed 3, 660 hectares of cannabis farms last year and recovered 40 tonnes of the weed abandoned on the farms.
As part of efforts to ensure that drugs seized do not find their way back into the society which may constitute threat to public health, the agency sustained its public destruction of drug exhibits by burning.
A top official of the agency who would not want his name in print told PRNigeria that “Cumulatively, the agency publicly destroyed 375, 371.79 kilograms of illicit substances. This is made up of 14 tonnes of drugs seized over a period of two years in Adamawa.
“In Ondo State, the agency destroyed 110 tonnes while in Edo, it destroyed 136 tonnes, and set six tonnes ablaze in Jigawa.
In Delta, the agency recently destroyed approximately 90 tonnes of illicit drugs and 18 tonnes in Kogi,” he said.
He also noted that the NDLEA extended its dragnet to Tramadol, which had become a drug of choice for users.
However, about N32million is spent every month as administrative and operation cost which is a far cry from the required budget needed to carry out its activities.