THE Bauchi State Command of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) seized 1,092.569 kilograms of hard drugs comprising cannabis sativa and psychotropic substances in 2012, the Commander, Parah Julius Bawa, has said.

While briefing newsmen yesterday on the activities and achievement recoded by his command in 2012, Bawa said 213 suspects were also arrested. According to him, 118 of the suspects were prosecuted with 38 convicted.

He said 71 of the suspects who were identified as drug users were counseled on the dangers and implications of further indulgence in drug abuse before re-integrating them to the society.

Meanwhile, the geographical location of Kwara State has been said to put it in a vantage position to be hot spot for illicit drug trafficking.

The state Commander of the NDLEA, Segun Oke , who made the observation said this assessment is reinforced by the heavy vehicular traffic in the state.

Oke spoke yesterday in Ilorin, when he led his management team on a visit to the secretariat of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kwara council.

His words: “Our assessment so far has not helped us to determine how hot Kwara is in terms of cultivation. We are working on that. But by nature, Kwara is in the middle of the country and if you take the road network or the map of the road, you know that there are lots of access roads to Kwara. You can pass from Oyo State through Kwara to the North. You can also pass from here to Lokoja. Again traffic can move from Okenne into this place.”