Enugu State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), says it arrested 144 suspects for various drug related offences in 2021.
The State Commander, NDLEA Anietie Bassey who made this known during a press briefing in Enugu said that out of the number 50 Drug dealers were convicted within the year.
He said that 1,328.174kg of cannabis Sativa, 222.67g of cocaine, 592.11g of methamphetamine, 258.07 of Tramadol, 29.920kg of psychotropic substances and 13 capsules of Rohypnol were seized.
Despite the successes recorded By the agency in 2021, Bassey expressed worry over the spread of clandestine laboratories where the deadly methamphetamine otherwise known as ‘mkpuru-mmiri’ in the South East is produced.
“Why the agency is particularly worried about the clandestine laboratory is that their Methamphetamine products are worse than any category ‘A’ drugs and they are being manufactured locally make them readily available for abuse by our teeming youth population.
“Clandestine laboratory also poses a grave threat to the locality of its operation as it pollutes sources of water and even air.”
He further said that the Drug Demand Reduction Unit of the agency which constantly engaged in several sensitization programmes also admitted 40 drug into rehabilitation programmes.