The Benue arm of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has retrieved 145.2545kg (4 tons)of cannabis sativa and arrested 175 suspects this year. State Commander of the NDLEA, Mrs. Florence Ezeonye, on Friday, revealed to newsmen in her office that:
“Of the 175 suspects that were arrested, 71 had already been convicted while others were currently being prosecuted in court.”
“98.3kg of psychotropic substances including Tramadol, Diazaphem, cough syrup with codeine among others were also seized while over two hectares of cannabis farms were discovered and destroyed in the year under review.” she said.
Ezeonye who said that although the Command made a seizure of 2.3grams of Cocaine in the state, she fears that the situation was going to become a staple occurrence. The NDLEA had also seized 0.3grams of cocaine in 2015.
She deplored that the seizure becoming a problem because of the combination of cannabis sativa and cocaine this implies that there are serious issues at hand.
she stated that we need: “A concentrated efforts of all stakeholders to tackle this headlong to enable that the state return to the food basket of the nation she which was known for rather than the drug basket of the nation.”
Mrs. Ezeonye also bewailed about “the frequent attacks of her officers in the line of duty especially in places like Ushongo in Ushongo Local Government Area, Chitto in Ukum LGA, Otukpo Icho in Otukpo LGA and Mbamena in Konshisha LGA among others.”
Ezeonye asked the traditional monarchs to discuss with their subjects ways to tackle the scourge of criminals in their regions and stressed:
“The menace can only be fought successfully with the cooperation of everyone.”
In order to help the logistics, the local state government sent 2 operational vehicles alongside other support to the NDLEA which Ezeonye thanked them for.
Leave a Reply