The Kogi State Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Alhaji Idris Bello, yesterday said the agency arrested 184 suspects in connection with drug-related offences.
He added that 16 of the suspects were convicted.
In an interview with journalists in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, he also said that the state command of NDLEA seized 6821.42 kilogrammes of illicit drugs and impounded 11 vehicles in the state in the outgoing year.
The commander said that it was sad and worrisome that Kogi state is allegedly a drug transit state.
According to him, drug traffickers had always invented sophisticated and complicated mechanism of concealing their illicit wares.
He, however, claimed that the command had been foiling such sophisticated adventures of drug dealers.
Bello further said the command destroyed four massive cannabis sativa, otherwise known as cannabis or Indian Hemp) farms, measuring approximately 35 acres, after it executed a large-scale operation in Ogori-Magongo local government area of the state during the year under review.
He added that the command successfully destroyed another 13,272.209 kgs of hard drugs publicly at Zango-Daji.
According to him, 85 drug-dependent persons had undergone short intervention training while 3 persons were rehabilitated.
The commandant appealed to the state government for the provision of logistics to the state command of NDLEA. He also urged the public to continue to volunteer useful information that would assist to either totally eradicate or reduce incidences of drug dealings and usage in the state. (NAN)
