The Lagos State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said on Thursday that it seized more drugs and had more convictions in 2016 than the previous year.
In all, the agency was said to have seized a total of 16,571.289kgs of narcotic drugs and successfully prosecuted 212 drug dealers last year while 140 cases were pending at the Federal High Court as at December 31, 2016.
National Daily learnt that the convicts comprising 205 males and seven females were sentenced to various jail terms including life imprisonment with hard labour.
NDLEA Lagos State Commander, Sule Aliyu said that cannabis had the largest quantity of the drugs with 16,327.398kg followed by tramadol with 192.918kg, diazepan 46.7kg, exol 3.2kg, rophenol 582 grammes, cocaine 121 grammes and heroin 37 grammes.
It was learnt that the above figures was higher than last year with a figure of 4, 443.5597kg of drugs seized in Lagos.
However, there was a drastic reduction in the number of persons counselled in connection with substance use and abuse from 362 in 2015 to 267 in 2016. This represents a decrease of 95 persons.
NDLEA Lagos State command prosecuting counsel, Barrister Jeremiah Aernan who personally prosecuted the cases unaided said that one Okunola Taiwo who was caught with 2kg of cannabis will have to spend 25 years in prison.
Saheed Bello got 12 years for dealing in cannabis; Mohammed Babangida and Abdullahi Ibrahim caught with 200 grammes of cannabis got 10 years each while Samuel Ukpe got eight years each on a three count charge of dealing in cocaine, heroin and cannabis to run concurrently.
Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (retd) said that the Agency is working on a grand strategy to reduce illicit supply and use of narcotic drugs in the State.
“The frequent seizures in the state and the discovery of 8,597.63kgs of cannabis in a six bedroom duplex located at 46, Ateoyo Street, Igbeleri Okoko, Lagos last June are results of the Agency’s strategies towards tackling drug trafficking in the State and the entire country” Abdallah stated.