NDLEA ARRESTS 141, CONVICTS 35 IN FCT

Federal Capital Territory (FCT) command of the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested 141 suspects and obtained 35
convictions last year.

The commandant, Mrs Victoria Egbase, told our correspondent yesterday
in Gwagwalada that six of the suspects were female.

She said that the suspects were arrested for various drug abuses and
its related offences, adding that 35 of the suspects had been
prosecuted and convicted.

Egbase said that the command also made a total seizure of 933.7kgs of
"intoxicating substances" last year.

According to her, the seized items include cannabis 932.6 kg, heroin
6.1 gm, cocaine 54.1 gm, psytropics, and others 1.03 kgm.

She added that some cases were still pending in court while others
were under investigation.

She associated the rising incidence of criminal activities in the FCT
to drug abuse, noting that lack of equipment hampered the command's
performance.

The commandant said that shortage of facilities posed a problem to
the agency in its effort to curb drug related criminal activities in
the FCT.

She called on the FCT Minister, Nasir el-Rufai to assist the command
with vehicles as well as fund.

"NDLEA is not coping with the fight against drug abuse and related
crimes in the FCT because the command has only one operational
vehicle with which to cover the entire FCT.

"We may have to operate in Abaji, Bwari or Kuje at the same time but
with one vehicle, we can only attend to one assignment at a time,"
Egbase said.

She said that illegal drug sellers used the FCT as a transit to
various parts of the country.

"NDLEA activities require collective collaboration of families,
communities and all tiers of government in order to have a drugs free
society," she added.