How anti-graft agency seized N542 billion worth of drugs

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has disclosed that it has arrested 3,478 drug suspects and seized 170, 341.704kg of narcotic drugs between January and May 2015.

The agency made this known in Abuja during a lecture to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and the launch of the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) 2015-2019 on Friday June 26.

The NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade, in the lecture titled “Let’s Develop Our Lives, Our Communities, Our Identities Without Drugs” gave the monetary value of the seized drugs and cannabis plant destroyed in 2014 as N542 billion.

“The drugs are cannabis: 167,461.826kg; cocaine: 103.848kg; heroin: 17.976kg; and psychotropic substances: 2, 619.195kg. The agency also discovered cannabis farms measuring 126.721 hectares. A total of 783 cases have so far been won in court,” he said.

He said the agency played a crucial role towards the peaceful conduct of the 2015 general elections, pointing that the huge amount is capable of derailing the most credible election.

According to him, such proceeds could be used to either subvert the wishes of the electorate or instigate upheavals.

“We shall therefore continue to financially incapacitate and dislodge drug cartels,” he said.

Giade also revealed that a total of 8,826 suspects, comprising 8,332 males and 494 females were arrested or questioned during investigation while illicit drugs seized weighed 166, 697.18kg in the year under review.

He stated that 4,529.15 hectares of farmland representing 53,719,342.32 kilogrammes of cannabis were destroyed and prevented from causing untold harm to Nigerians in 2014.

“Drugs do not make heroes but drug addicts. Drug trafficking does not make people successful rather it makes them prisoners,” he added.