The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Thursday disclosed that illicit drugs worth N75 billion have been seized in the last three months, while no fewer than 2,000 suspected drug traffickers have been arrested in various parts of the country within the period under review.
Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, the NDLEA Chairman, who made the disclosure when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, at Radio House in Abuja, the nation’s capital, also added that over 300 convictions have been secured.
Marwa lamented that drug abuse has assumed an alarming proportion in Nigeria, noting that there were about 15 million drug users between the age bracket of 15 and 64 – 25 per cent of whom were females.
He revealed that NDLEA operatives arrested two traffickers from the Niger Republic and Chad, who confessed to supplying illicit drugs to bandits.
The NDLEA Chief, however sought the collaboration of the information ministry and its agencies to launch a nationwide public sensitisation on drug demand reduction drive, through advocacy programmes in the media in order to curb drug abuse in the country.
