On Wednesday, The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency seized 10,000 kg of marijuana and also caught 241 suspects in Ondo State between June 2023 and May 2024.
The Ondo State NDLEA Narcotics Commander, Mr Kayode Raji, said this after a sensitisation walk around some part of Akure metropolis on Monday to kick start the 2024 United Nations Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Raji said that the commander during the period under review also rehabilitated over 20 persons and counselled 18 others through the drug demand reduction programme held in the state.
The Narcotics Commander said that farmers who were found cultivating marijuana on farmlands in different parts of the state were also arrested.
Raji said that the agency’s programmes across its areas of command in the state were with the aim of bringing awareness to everybody.
According to him, the agency is investing more into prevention of Illicit drug usage and planting, rather than announcement of numbers of arrests made.
“The joy in rehabilitation of drug dependent persons is that we don’t just rehabilitate and send them back to society, we follow up on them, so that they don’t fall back to their old ways,” the commander said.
An NDLEA Ambassador and National Association of Nigeria Students official, Mr Seyi Ogundipe, said the day was important because its aim was to save youths from consumption of illicit drugs.
Ogundipe said that the national student body would continue to advocate a drug free society.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the theme of the 2024 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is: “Evidence is Clear, Invest In Prevention.”
The United Nations declared June 26 annually the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking to focus attention on the menace.
NDLEA seized over 44,948.1kg in March, of illicit drugs and arrested eight suspects in multiple raids across Lagos, Edo, and Ondo states.
At about 11 vehicles were also seized by the anti-narcotics agency owned by the drug cartels
