Edo in South-South, Kano in North West and Plateau in North Central Nigeria are leading in drug seizures and arrests statistics by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Economic Confidential has reported. Data available to this intelligence magazine indicate that out of 100,253 kilograms seized for ten states, Edo state is leading in the number of seizures in Marijuana also known as Cannabis with a total of 42, 203 kilograms.
Ondo state, South West Nigeria grabs the second position in marijuana seizures with a total of 26,044 kilograms, followed by Oyo state in third position with 6,450 kilograms, Seme Lagos 6,009 kilograms in fourth position, the City of Lagos gets fifth position with 3,904kg, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the sixth position with 3,736kg.
Other states are Kwara, North Central Nigeria in the seventh position in marijuana seizures with 3,660kg, Delta state, 3,133kg in the eighth position, Ogun state with 2,988kg in the ninth position and the tenth position went to Kano state with 2,126kg. However, a diligent search reveals that Kano state is number one position in Tramadol seizures with 6,071kg out of a total 20,940kg seized by the NDLEA among ten states compared. This is closely followed by the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos with 5,004kg and the city of Lagos grabs the third position with 2,042kg.
Details of data obtained by Economic Confidential from the NDLEA indicate that plateau has the fourth position in Tramadol seizures with 1,737kg, Adamawa is fifth with 1,500kg, Kebbi ranks sixth with 1,339kg and Sokoto is seventh with 1,267kg. Others are the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the eighth position with 938kg, Benue state North Central Nigeria with 649kg in the ninth position and the tenth position goes to Bauchi with 393kg. Further checks by this newspaper unearthed Plateau State as the leader in the whole country in Cough Syrup seizures with 9,030kg out of 15,610kg from ten states combined. Sokoto state North west Nigeria came second with 2,412kg and Kano is third with 1,668kg, while Bauchi, Zamfara and Adamawa states 806kg, 538kg, 513kg in fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively Meanwhile, Ogun, Kebbi, Benue and Kaduna states have cough syrup seizures with 168kg, 166kg, 165kg, and 144kg in positions of 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respectively. The overall drug seizures and arrest statistics in 2018 reflected that 316,365kg of drugs were seized in 2018, out of which 271,812 kg was cannabis. This represents 85.9% percentage of the total drug seized within the period under review.
Tramadol followed closely with 22,562kg seized representing 7.1% of the total drug seized. Edo State recorded the highest kg (42,402) of drug seizure while Borno State recorded the least with 147.54kg of drugs seized.
Our investigations also reveal that 9,824 arrests were made in 2018. 9,122 were male while 702 were female. 1,236 were convicted in 2018 while 1,002 were on counseling. 267,635 kg of exhibits were destroyed including 3,660 hectares of farmland. News Express
Pix: NDLEA staff investigating seized suspected drugs
