The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency commands in Lagos and at the Murtala Muhammed Airport have disclosed it arrested a total 577 drug suspects in 2015.
The Lagos State Commander of the NDLEA, Mr. Aliyu Sule, and his Airport Command counterpart, Mr. Garba Ahmadu, spoke with newsmen in Lagos on Sunday on the arrests. According to the commanders, 438 drug suspects were apprehended by the Lagos Command while the airport command apprehended 139 suspects during the period.
Sule said a total of 7,315 kilogrammes (over seven tonnes) of various drugs were seized by men of his command during the period. He added that the breakdown showed that cannabis accounted for 7,313. 06 kgs; heroin, 413.5 grammes; while Cannabis Sativa amounted to 480 grammes.
The state commander noted that there was a drop in the number of arrests made in 2015, compared to previous years. According to him, the NDLEA Lagos command, between 2011 and 2012, made a seizure of drugs between eight tonnes and 10 tonnes, compared to the seven tonnes in 2015.
Sule explained that the decline was as a result of the proactive measures put in place by the command to monitor and apprehend drug suspects at their hideouts. He appealed to Nigerians to cooperate with the NDLEA, pointing out that the war against drug trafficking was a collective responsibility.
On his part, Ahmadu, the NDLEA Airport commander, said out of the 139 suspects apprehended by operatives of his command, 119 were males while 20 were females. Ahmadu said the number of suspects arrested in 2014 was 129.
He attributed the increase in 2015 to training of officers and increased awareness that enabled them to discover tricks used by traffickers.
According to him, the command made a seizure of 590.9kgs of illicit drugs in 2015, and had no fewer than 155 cases pending before the Federal High Court.
He stated that 17 convictions had been recorded. Ahmadu said traffickers were arrested concealing drugs in bags, shoes, injections and tomato paste.
