The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Akwa Ibom State has convicted 7 persons for trafficking illicit drugs including cannabis sativa, heroin and cocaine.
The state commander of the agency, Mr. Shedow Gaura, saidTuesday that the seven suspects were still undergoing investigations while there were others currently facing prosecution.
He said the agency had arrested 121 suspected drug dealers between January and July 2017 comprising 107 males and 14 females.
He noted that “total weight of the drugs seized between January and July includes 226.04kilogrammes and this comprises of cannabis sativa 210.62kg, cocaine 0.029kg, heroin 0.16kg and psychotropic substances 15.23kg.
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“The quantity of drugs seized indicates that cannabis is most prevalent in Akwa Ibom State. And here we arrest mostly people with small quantity of the drugs. So we don’t really have challenge in terms< of having big drug dealers here unlike in some states like Ondo and Edo where you see large cultivated farms.
“There is the possibility that there could be farms here, but we are saying that we have not seen any yet. The drugs we seized or recovered from those so far arrested are from outside the state. In fact the small quantities don’t excite us in NDLEA any longer.
“Presently we are now targeting the drug barons because that is the only way we can succeed in destroying their syndicate and also large quantity of these drugs. But one big challenge we have is that when we arrest these small dealers they will refuse to disclose their source or where their supply come from.”
Gaura said the agency could not carry out its sensitization programme as result of the poor financing and called on government to something about it.
