By Hassan Danzumi.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Taraba State Command on Friday revealed that it has arrested one hundred and ninety-six suspects from July 2019 to March 2020.
The Taray State Commander, Mr Suleiman Jadi disclosed this while briefing journalists in Jalingo in commemoration of this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Suleiman said the command in it effort towards fighting drug menace in the society has last year carried out a public burning and destruction of Narcotic drugs with a total weight of about 7000kg which was done by the Chairman/CEO of NDLEA, Col. Mustapha Abdallah (retd).
He maintained that out of the 196 suspects, 194 were male and 2 female, adding that Cannabis Sativa with a net weight of 555.83kg and Psychotropic substances weighing 327.76kg were seized and confiscated.
He further explained that the Command through the Federal High Court Jalingo secured a total of 39 conviction, while it’s Drug Demand Reduction Unit successfully counselled 53 clients and carried out significance anti-drug abuse awareness campaign and enlightenment programmes in schools, markets places, hospitals and motor parks as well as government offices across the state.
Mr Suleiman Jadi however, while thanking the state government for their assistance stressed the need for further assistance to respond to the current challenges posed by the menace of drug abuse.
According to the state Commander, it is imperative now more than ever for the Command to have a standard rehabilitation centre to enable citizens of the state benefit from the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that is already in place between NDLEA and National Directorate of Employment aimed at enabling the rehabilitated drug dependent person benefits and acquire skills and training from the NDE programmes free of charge.
Suleiman revealed that currently, the Taraba has not benefitted from the programme due to lack of rehabilitation facilities in the NDLEA centre in the state.
