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From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Enugu State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested 144 suspects for various drug-related offences in 2021.
The commander, NDLEA, Anietie Bassey, during a press briefing in Enugu, said, out of the number, 50 drug dealers were convicted within the year under review.
Bassey said, 1,328.174kg of cannabis sativa, 222.67g of cocaine, 592.11g of methamphetamine, 258.07 of Tramadol, 29.920kg of psychotropic substances and 13 capsules of rohypnol were seized.
Despite the successes recorded by the agency in 2021, Bassey expressed worry over the spread of clandestine laboratories, where the deadly methamphetamine otherwise known as ‘mkpuru-mmiri’ in the South East, is produced.
“Why the agency is particularly worried about clandestine laboratories is that their Methamphetamine products are worse than any category ‘A’ drugs and their being manufactured locally make them readily available for abuse by our teeming youth population.
“Clandestine laboratory also poses grave threat to the locality of its operation as it pollutes sources of water and even air.”
He further said that the drug demand reduction unit of the agency, which constantly engaged in several sensitization programmes, also admitted 40 drug abusers, out of which 29 have been rehabilitated and discharged.
