The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, arrested no fewer than 732 persons for alleged drugs related offenses in Katsina State in 2017.
The NDLEA Commander in the state, Maryam Sani, disclosed this on Monday at a news briefing.
She lamented that under age children, girls and married women, and students were among those arrested.
“Our men arrested 732 drug offenders in 2017, out of which, 13 were female, 20, under age, and 50 were students of various institutions of learning in the state.
“A total of 432 kilogrammes of illicit substances were seized from the drug dealers and users.
‘’The substances seized comprises of 246.7 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa, 185.2 kg, psychotropics and 99.675 liters,’’ she said.
Mrs Sani said the command had counseled 610 persons during the period under review.
She further said that the command had secured 44 convictions at the Federal High Court, Katsina, while 82 cases were at various levels of prosecution.
Mrs Sani, however, said that there was an increase in the drug abuse and trafficking in the state compared to previous year.
The commander, therefore, urged parents, teachers, government agencies, traditional and religious leaders, institutions of learning and NGO’s to continue to join hands to fight the menace.
‘’The threat of drug abuse is real; it portends a great danger to our teeming youth population, so the war against drug abuse should be a collaborative efforts.
‘’We solicit for the support and cooperation of the public to help the agency with information which is the bedrock of any operational success,’’ she said.
The commander also solicited for more logistics to enable the operatives continue to cover all the nooks and crannies of the state.
NAN
