The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested no fewer than 353 suspects over different illicit drug-related offences from June 2024 to date in Taraba State.
The agency also confiscated at least 3,125,875kg of different types of hard drugs, including cannabis sativa and psychotropic substances.
The state commander of NDLEA, Ali Umar, disclosed this during a press briefing to mark this year’s United Nations International Day of War against drug abuse and illicit trafficking commemoration.
Umar said the command also identified and destroyed cannabis sativa farms in eight local government areas of the state.
According to him, the war against drug abuse is a must-win for the agency as they had secured 53 convictions of illicit drug dealers, which attracted varying jail terms at the federal high court, Jalingo, with others still under trial.
”The command successfully arrested a total number of 353 suspects, out of which 18 were females.
”During the period under review, the command successfully secured a total number of 53 convictions of illicit drug dealers, attracting varying jail terms at the federal high court, Jalingo, while other cases are still under prosecution and trial,” he said.
The NDLEA commander highlighted their challenges to include that the communities are not willing to provide useful information on drug dealers.
He listed others to include a lack of accommodation, operational logistics, treatment, counselling and a rehabilitation centre.
The Commander insisted NDLEA has a robust cordial relationship with all sister security agencies in the state, especially in the area of intelligence sharing, transfer of suspects, and exhibits to respective areas of jurisdiction.
