The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, says it arrested 14,480 suspected drug traffickers between January and October in connection with the seizure of 2.4 million kg of assorted illicit drugs.
The NDLEA Chairman, Buba Marwa, stated this while briefing members of the House of Representatives Committee on Narcotic Drugs on Wednesday in Abuja.
The committee was on oversight visit to the national headquarters of NDLEA in Abuja.
Marwa said that the arrest and drugs intercepted were carried out by the anti-narcotics agency at seaports, airports, land borders and communities across the country.
According to him, the record of work done by the agency in the past 10 months, “we can say with certainty that we are on course to beat the performance of the previous three years.”
“Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 30, we recorded 14, 480 arrest of drug offenders, including 15 drug barons.
“Within the same period , we were able to secure 2,867 convictions in court. This is far more than what we have achieved in each of the past three years.
“Our seizures in 10 months amounted to 2.4 million kilograms of illicit drugs, which also surpassed last year’s record. We successfully located and destroyed 547, 378 kilograms of cannabis plantations.
“Similarly, our drug demand reduction figure is on the positive side. In the past 10 months, the agency counselled and rehabilitated 6, 655 drug users.
“We conducted a total of 3, 064 awareness campaigns and sensitisation lectures in schools, motor parks, worship centres, work places and communities, among others, which reached 1, 327, 181 people.
The NDLEA boss also cited the largest single heroin seizure of 51.90kg in the history of the agency at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, in February.
He applauded the lawmakers for their support in the outgoing year, Marwa urged them to remain steadfast so that the Agency can achieve more.
According to him, in the past three years, the agency has harnessed and maximised the limited resources at its disposal to achieve impressive results.
NDLEA nabs 14,480, intercepts over 2.4million kg illicit drugs in 10 months
