13 drug traffickers arrested in Ondo - Nigerian Tribune

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Tuesday, 20 November 2012

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ondo State Command has seized cannabis, popularly known as Indian hemp, worth N260 million from various communities across the state.

Apart from this, the command also said that 13 people, who specialised in drug trafficking, had been apprehended by the agency in the state.

The Ondo State Commander of NDLEA, Walter Nicholas, stated that most of the seizures were made around Ipele Forest in Owo Local Government Area of the state .

Displaying 18 tonnes of the illegal drug, the NDLEA boss said the command had always been avoiding to make public, the street value of the seized drugs, in order not to induce people to venture into the nefarious trade

According to him, the perpetrators have devised different methods  of concealing the illegal products to beat security agents.

He said "the mode of concealment employed by the perpetrators, the extent they have gone and the ingenuity exhibited in order to deceive security agencies, represent the highest exhibition of frustration on their part."

He pointed out that Indian hemp remains the most widely grown in the state, adding that the agency had been able to stem the use of the hard drugs in the state.

Nicholas, however, expressed the readiness of the command to combat the supply of drugs to any part of the country or abroad .

"Drug trafficking, cultivation are proscribed as crimes against society, its catalystical influence in the commission of crimes indicate that all things being equal, even the police would only have been necessary where we have failed," he said.

The NDLEA boss also informed that the command has put in place, a proactive  measure to manage and control drug addicts in the state, through an effective rehabilitation centre, saying this was put in place to cater for youths who have fallen victim of drug use.

He, however, urged  the state government and public spirited individual to come to the aid of the centre by donating materials for the upkeep of the centre.

Also speaking at the event, the state Commissioner for Youth and Sport, Alhaji Yekini Olanipekun, said, though the arrest was embarrasing  because the state government was trying to eradicate the illegal business in the state, he was happy   about the arrest, because "this will go a long way to save the future of our youths."

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