77,558 persons arrested for drug trafficking between 2006 and 2015, says NDLEA

The chairman, National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Muhammad Abdallah yesterday said 77,558 persons were arrested for drug trafficking crimes between 2006 and 2015. The chairman, who was represented by NDLEA Commander, Lagos State Command, Mr. Kayode Adeniyi, said this at a one-day seminar to mark the International Day Against Drug and Human Trafficking. It was also marked by the Borno, Kano and Katsina commands.

Adeniyi said the business of drug trafficking is usually motivated by the profit, which is tagged the most lucrative, generating about $320 billion per annum.“The NDLEA first discovered a methamphetamine laboratory at Maza-Maza area of Lagos in 2011 and till date 12 other laboratories have been discovered in Lagos, Anambra and Delta states. Of the arrested 77,558 drug traffickers, 72,735 are male while 4,823 are female. It is painful that Nigeria has been implicated as a source, transit and destination point for drugs and human trafficking,” he said.

Adeniyi called for collaboration of all security agencies in information sharing in order to effectively check the menace of drug trafficking.Chairman of the event, CEO of Halogen Security, Mr. Wale Olaoye, noted that human trafficking in the next few years would surpass illegal sale of arms.

“We are looking to change the narrative as Nigeria tops other countries in production and seizure of hard drugs. Nigeria also has the highest number of persons serving jail terms for drug offenses in the world, which should be of great concern to us.”

The Kano State command of the NDLEA yesterday disclosed the seizure of 39, 224.109kg of assorted drugs in the last one year. Besides, the command said over 768 suspects were also arrested of which 505 suspects were counseled, 68 rehabilitated, while 240 had convictions.

The Katsina State command said it apprehended 412 suspects with over 206 kilograms of illicit drugs between January and June this year. It has also prosecuted 34 drug suspects all of them sentenced to various jail terms, while 95 cases are undergoing various stages of trail at a federal high court in the state.

The Borno State Commander of the NDLEA, Joseph Okechukwu, has said 492 drugs suspects were arrested with the prosecution of 68 others in court of law for drugs abuse and trafficking in the last 18 months.