By Ibironke Ariyo
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it seized drugs valued at N420 billion between January 2021 and September.
The Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
Babafemi said 19,341 suspects had been arrested including 28 barons, adding that October statistics were still being compiled.
He said that 3,111 persons had been convicted with 3,232 persons still in court.
He said the agency had counseled and rehabilitated 12, 326 persons in the period under review.
“Drug use in the nation has risen to around 14.4 per cent in 21 months, with 12,326 drug-dependent people counseled, treated, and rehabilitated in our facilities.
“Over 600 bank accounts were frozen with assets of drug barons seized between January 2021 and September.
“Luxury cars and mansions are under interim/final forfeiture while drugs worth over N420 billion have been seized.
“About 5.5 million kilograms of drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, crystal methamphetamine, tramadol, codeine and other psychotropic drugs were also seized,” he said.
Babafemi said gone were the days when drug kingpins hid behind traffickers and remained faceless.
He warned that the new NDLEA would continue to expose them if they failed to back out of the criminal trade.
According to the director, the agency has a good working relationship with security organisations in the country to ensure that drug abuse and trafficking are reduced to the barest minimum.
He added that the NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd.) was focussed on achieving synergy with all relevant security agencies.
“Today, we work in conjunction with the DSS, NSCDC, Police, Navy, Customs, Immigration and the military.
“We also have good working relationship with international drug law enforcement organisations and recently signed an MoU with INTERPOL.
“We have signed MoU with various countries such as Cote D’Ivoire and The Gambia and have other agreements in the pipeline with India, Pakistan, Venezuela, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“We have regular partners like the US DEA, UK Border Force and relevant organisations of the German and French governments,” Babafemi said. (NAN)
