The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized 6.3 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs in two years.
The Chairman of the agency, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (Rtd), disclosed this while destroying 25 tonnes of illicit drugs in Sokoto State on Thursday.
Marwa said that over 852 hectares of Indian hemp were destroyed while three clandestine methamphetamine laboratories were dismantled.
Represented by the Director, Legal and Prosecution, Josephine Obi, he said 32,000 drug offenders, including 35 barons, were arrested in the period under review.
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The chairman added that 5,147 convictions were also secured.
He noted that the record of arrests and seizures in Sokoto indicated that apart from the abuse of drugs such as hemp, codeine-based syrups, valium and strong analgesics, there was prevalence of snuffs, sheesha, Akuskura and methamphetamine (otherwise called ice).
He said, “Scientific evidence shows that most of these substances are adulterated with other hard substances that are more dangerous than even cocaine and heroin to increase their potency and addictive tendencies.”
He, therefore, warned the users, especially youths, who often used them as aphrodisiac to desist from doing so.
In his remarks, Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto stated that public destruction of dangerous drugs was a strong warning to drug couriers, barons and cartels that the illicit drug trade or business must be substituted with alternative and legitimate businesses.
The governor was represented by his Special Assistant, Administration, Barrister Ghandi Umar.
The state’s Commander of NDLEA, Adamu Muhammad, revealed that the drugs destroyed included 14,561.632kg of hemp; 2,710.253kg of psychotropic substances; 4.00g of cocaine, among others.
