Commander of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Malam Garba Ahmadu declared yesterday in Kano that the agency is winning the war against drug abuse and trafficking in illicit drugs in the state with the arrest of 277 suspects and the impounding of 2, 003.672kg assorted illicit drugs within the last six months.
Malam Ahmadu who was giving the Command’s progress report to mark the 2015 United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Trafficking in Illicit Drugs, said compared with data available within the last three years, Kano’s status as one of the major cities where drugs are abused is gradually reducing.
He said out of the illicit drugs confiscated by the agency during the period under review, cannabis sativa, ranks the highest with 1, 327.283kg, psychotropic substances stood at 676.252kg, cocaine 90.5grammes while the quantity of heroine seized by the agency stood at 46.1 grammes.
He added that out of the 277 suspects arrested, 125 have undergone brief intervention and counseling with 11 of them referred back to their parents after six months on comprehensive and intensive counseling.
Malam Ahmadu further stated that currently, 18 suspects are undergoing counseling and rehabilitation, 83 have been convicted, 83 cases filed before the Kano Federal High Court, while others are awaiting conviction due to the ill-health of the Chief Judge.
He also noted that with the help of a special Committee established at the instance of Kano state government, NDLEA in Kano has greatly reduced the activities of drug users and traffickers in the state.
“You are aware that the state government established a special committee comprising of officers of NDLEA, Police, Army, Civil Defence, Hisbah, SSS and other security and Para-military agencies.
“This collaboration is helpful and we have been able to dislodge this hoodlums in their major areas such as Kofar Naisa, Sharada, Darmanawa, Rijiyar Lemo, Dorayi Primary School, Sabon Gari, NNPC DepotKiwo Lambu, Gandu Albasa, Gidan Zoo, Rumfa College, Kabo town, Kachako town, Ungwa Uku motor park, New Road motor park, Mariri, Yan ITYACE, Wudil town, Durban sai town, Tudun Wada, Gezawa town, Plaza Fagge and Rimin Gado.”
According to him, proactive measures were taken by the agency before the 2015 general elections, so as to bring the rate of consumption of illicit drugs, particularly, among the youths who were used as political thugs, “and it worked for us as the mop up exercise we did was able to control the rate of drug consumption in the state.
“You know that usually, during festive periods like Sallah, Christmas and even during elections; what the drug traffickers do is to bring in the substances one or two weeks before time; so what we did was to take the war to where cannabis, especially, is being cultivated.
“We had what we call operation-weed-eater in Ondo and Edo states where large farms of cannabis were destroyed. Officers from Kano here were temporally redeployed to those hot states for that operation; and it paid off because when we succeeded in destroying the source, the traffickers would have less or nothing to bring into the states.”
He said other activities observed to mark the 2015 UN Drug Week with the theme let’s ‘Develop Our Lives, Our Identities and Our Communities Without Drugs’, include special lectures and quiz at schools across the state, special sermons in churches and mosques as well as a novelty football match between NDLEA and the Kano state Hisbah Board.