Date: 2016-08-09

The Kwara State command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has arrested a total of 74 suspects carrying 391.26 kilogramme of hard drugs between January and July 2016. Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, the State Commander of the agency, Mr Apeh Reuben, said that sixty-two of the suspects were male, while twelve others were female.

The NDLEA boss, who said that 14 people had been convicted by the state High Court, in Ilorin on offences involving possession and smoking of hard drugs, added that their sentences ranged from 12 months to eight years imprisonment.

He also said that five suspected drug users were arrested in an uncompleted building around Baboko area of Ilorin metropolis on August 4, "with functionally sophisticated locally made pistols ready for operation.

"The drug situation in the state has taken a different dimension because they are very expensive," the Mr Reuben further stated that the addicts no longer afford the drug at their reach as usual. Therefore, they engage in pilfering and armed robbery in order to meet up with the cost of maintaining their habit.

"This of course reveals that all drug users or consumers are potential armed robbers. Their inability to afford the cost of drug could make them armed robbers", Mr Reuben said.

While lamenting over high rate of hard drug users in the state, Mr Reuben said that most of the arrested persons were smokers between ages of 19 and 50 years.

He said that many of them had been counseled, with 30 among them rehabilitated and released to their family. He also urge parents to be more responsible to upbringing of their children, stressing the need for them to know the company their children keep.