Maduako Igbokwe l Thursday, October 15, 2020
ONITSHA, Anambra, Nigeria – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Anambra State Command has arrested 44 persons suspected to be dealing in illicit drugs.
The 44 persons were arrested between April to September 2020. The Commander of the Agency, Mohammed Idris made this known in the second and third quarter report made by the agency and released to the press in Awka.
According to Idris, out of the 44 suspects arrested, four were females while 19 others found to have serious cases would be charged to court for prosecution. He s aid the remaining suspects were referred to a rehabilitation center for counseling.
The Commander pointed out that within the time of the report, the agency secured eleven convictions from the previous arrests made by the command. He said the agency had some challenges arraigning
suspects at the Federal High Court in Awka, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and emphasized that the agency recorded significant improvement on the seizure of illicit drugs in the state within the period under review.
About two tons of illicit drugs, consisting of 1720 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa, 0.210 crystalline methamphetamine, 5000 tablets of tramadol, about 10,481 and 81 tablets of Diazepam,2.1 liters of cough syrup with codine, among others were also recovered within the time.
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He 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.
He assured the 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.
