NDLEA Arrested 577 Drug Traffickers in 2015

The Lagos and Murtala Muhammed Airport commands of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency effected the arrest of a total of 577 drug suspects in 2015.

This was made known by the Lagos State Commander of the NDLEA, Mr. Aliyu Sule, and his Airport Command counterpart, Mr. Garba Ahmadu, who spoke with newsmen in Lagos on Sunday on the arrests.

According to them, 438 drug suspects were apprehended by the Lagos Command while the airport command apprehended 139 suspects during the period, with a total of 7,315 kilogrammes (over seven tonnes) of various drugs 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, with the Lagos command of the NDLEA Lagos command making a seizure of eight to ten tonnes of drugs between 2011 and 2012, 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.