NDLEA Arrests 50,901 Drug Offenders In 3 Years.

Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it has arrested a total of 5,0901 drug offenders, including the apprehension of 46 drug barons in the last three years.

The Chairman of the agency, Brigadier-General Muhammed Marwa (retd.), who disclosed this at the inauguration and handing over ceremony of an operational facility built and donated by the British Government to the NDLEA in Lagos said, within the period, the agency had successfully prosecuted and convicted 9,034 of them as well as seized over 7,561 tonnes of illicit substances.

This, according to him, would not only disrupt the flow of illegal drugs but also serve as a significant blow to the criminal networks responsible for their distribution, adding that the agency had taken decisive action against illicit drug crop cultivation with its search and destroy campaign against cannabis plantation which had led to the destruction of over 1000 hectares of cannabis farms in the past three years.

Speaking at the ceremony, the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jonny Baxter, assured the agency of continued support to the NDLEA and Nigeria, adding that, the NDLEA in February intercepted what it described as the single largest heroin consignment at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.