A total of 577 drug suspects were arrested by two commands of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in 2015.

While 438 drug suspects were arrested by the Lagos command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) between January and November 2015, the Airport Command arrested 139 suspects the same period.

The Lagos State commander of the NDLEA Alhaji Aliyu Sule, who disclosed this in an interview in his office in Lagos on the activities of his command in 2015 also disclosed that a total of 7315 kilo grams (over 7 tonnes ) of various drugs were seized during the period.

The breakdown showed that cannabis 7313. 06 kilo grams, Heroine 413.5 grams, Cannabis sativa 480 grams were seized.

Sule stated that there had been a drop in the number of arrest this year compared to the previous years, adding that the command was becoming more pro active than before in trailing suspects.

According to him, the NDLEA Lagos command between 2011 and 2012 made a seizure of drugs between 10 tonnes and 8 tonnes compared to the 7 tonnes this year.

Sule explained that the command had continued to swoop on drugs suspects hide out and mounted check-points on the highways to arrest suspects this he noted had been responsible for the decline.

He appealed to Nigerians to cooperate with the agency as the war against drug trafficking was a collective responsibility.

Sule who lamented various attacks on his men while carrying out their duties appealed to well meaning Nigerians, corporate bodies and the government to come to their aid by providing logistics for them to carry out their duties more effectively.

Meanwhile, the Murtala Muhammed Airport Command of the NDLEA said it also arrested 139 drug traffickers at the airport in the period under review.

The airport commander of NDLEA, Garba Ahmadu in an interview disclosed that out of the 139, suspects 119 were male while remaining 20 were female.

According to Ahmadu, the command made 590.9 kilo grams of seizure while between 115 and 120 cases were before the Federal High Court and 17 convicted.

He explained that the command last year made a seizure of 436,065kg while it increased this year to 590,9kg.

According to him 129 suspects were arrested last year while 139 suspects were arrested this year. He attributed the increase in arrest to officers’ more awareness to tricks employed by traffickers and trainings of officers.

He listed methods of drug concealment by drug traffickers to include, bags, shoes, injections adding that the more worrisome trend include the use of indomie pack and tomato paste to concealed drugs.

He said that officers of the agency were at alert at the airport putting their trainings and machines to practice.

Garba stressed the need for more training of officers and funding of the agency advising would be drug traffickers to steer clear of the
NDLEA said it seized narcotic valued at N3.7 billion at the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos in 2015

This is just as the agency also disclosed that it received a total of 183 Nigerians made up of 176 males and seven females deported on drug related offences.

Acting Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Mrs. Roli Bode-George said that the monetary value of seized drugs underscores the threat posed by illicit drug production, trafficking and abuse.

”Drug trafficking is a serious crime capable of undermining our security.

The agency is working very hard to seize drugs and financially incapacitate drug trafficking organisations. Efforts will be intensified to drastically reduce drug trafficking through continuous arrest and prosecution as well as drug demand reduction programmes. We must continue to channel our resources towards a safe and healthy society” she stated.

NDLEA Commander at the Lagos Airport, Mr. Ahmadu Garba, who gave a breakdown of the seized drugs, said that the last arrest in 2015 was that of a 37 years old lady recruited on Facebook to smuggle drugs to Malaysia.

His words, “the Airport Command arrested 122 males and 20 females with 594.002k of drugs valued at 3.7 billion naira. The drugs consist of 172kg of cannabis, 160kg of ephedrine, 114kg of methamphetamine, 96kg of cocaine, 45kg of tramadol and 5kg of heroin. Interestingly the last arrest for the year was that of a lady who was recruited by a facebook lover based in Malaysia”.