By Oginyi Ruth
The National Drug Laws and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Ebonyi State Command says over 200 drug traffickers have been arrested in the state between January and October 2019.
Deputy State Commander (in charge of operations) NDLEA, Mohammed Bashiri Ibrahim disclosed this in Abakaliki on Monday during a two-day workshop for men of Neighbourhood Watch in the state.
The two-day programme with the theme, “Ebonyi Must Remain Free From Crime” was organized by the office of the commissioner for Border Peace and Conflict Resolution for member of the Neighbourhood Watch.
Bashiri also stated that the command had secured 35 cases of drug offenders in court.
According to him, the increasing rate of drug trafficking in the state has led to intense awareness campaign in the state while drug free clubs are being established in secondary schools across the state to discourage drug abuse.
“From January to October we have arrested about 200 drug traffickers and the cases are going on in the court. I think this year alone we have secured about 35 convictions of drug offenders and we are still counting.
“Just on 22nd of this month, that was last week, we arrested 189kw of cannabis. The same day we arrested over 200 pinches of cocaine and 150 heroins within the town just in a single day”.
He attributed the increasing rate of drugs in Ebonyi to the rapid development in the state.
“Ebonyi State is growing, and Development is coming to Ebonyi, the Governor is building structures and what do you expect, people are coming in to do business. You see all these people that work at sites they want to take drugs, so people come to do marketing. Ebonyi is like an emerging state so you expect drug infiltration into the state”, he further added.
In his remark, the State Commissioner for Border Peace and Conflict Resolution, Mr. Stanley Okoro Emegha said the training of Neighborhood Watch members is done quarterly to enable security personnel tutor them.
Emegha explained that members of the Neighborhood Watch are civilians who were engaged by the state government to assist in the security of the state.
He posited that the administration of Governor David Umahi was doing it best to tackle the rising cases of drug abuse, urging members of the vigilante outfit to always work with security agencies for the security of lives and property in the state.
“So the training will help to prepare them for the troubles ahead. You know armed robbers can never stop, so far so good what you can see in Ebonyi state is generally a pocket crime but we are doing all we can to bring it to the barest minimum.
“They need to have the knowledge, not only carrying arm they need to know the technical knowhow…And these people are more on ground than the security agencies, so they can easily get report and give to the security agencies”, the commissioner said.
