The Kwara State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested three men allegedly notorious for the supply of illicit drugs in different locations of the state.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin, the state capital, on Tuesday on efforts aimed at reducing the supply of hard drugs, the state commander of the NDLEA, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the arrest was made within one week.

Ibrahim, who described one of the suspected drug traffickers, Nwankwo Innocent, as a major supplier of psychotropic substances in the state capital, added that two other suspects, Solomon Sonowo and Abubakar Tijani, were arrested for drug-related offences.

He said, “In the past week, the command intercepted 4kg of cannabis sativa which is Indian hemp, meth and methamphetamine from one Solomon Sonowo aged 24 at Bode Saadu, in the Moro Local Government Area of the state.

“Abubakar Tijani, aged 33, was also arrested at Bode Saadu with 14kg of cannabis sativa.

“There was also an arrest of one of the major distributors of psychotropic drugs in Kwara State, who gave his name as Chidi Godwin. He was arrested last year with a name given as Chidi Jonathan. The development aroused our interest to dig further with a visit to his house and found out that his real name is Nwankwo Innocent. He’s a notorious supplier of psychotropic substances in the state. He has no shop, meaning that he is not a registered patent medicine seller.

“He sends his consignment from Lagos State and the goods were intercepted on August 12. He was called to come and collect his consignment. He was arrested thereafter. The exhibits include tramadol weighing 1.95Kg, Diazapham of 2.95Kg and 179 grams of Pentazocine.”

The NDLEA boss said the suspect had been in the business for several years, adding that “his arrest will cut the supply and availability of psychotropic substances within the state.”

He said the three suspects would be charged after the investigation.

He lamented that an analysis of drug seizure and arrest of suspects between January and June 2023 showed that 85 per cent of suspects fell between the ages of 14 and 40 years.

He added that 89 per cent of those that undergo brief counselling and rehabilitation in the command centre were in the same age bracket.