Benue: NDLEA seizes N80m worth Indian hemp
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Benue state has seized N80 million worth of cannabis, weighing more than two and a half tonnes in Alaide area of the state. State commander, Mrs. Florence Ezeonye, who made the disclosure while briefing newsmen in Makurdi of the successes of the command in 2017 at the […]
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Benue state has seized N80 million worth of cannabis, weighing more than two and a half tonnes in Alaide area of the state.
State commander, Mrs. Florence Ezeonye, who made the disclosure while briefing newsmen in Makurdi of the successes of the command in 2017 at the weekend, also intimated that a total of 175 suspects were arrested in the year under review.
According to her, the single large seizure of cannabis sativa made in Alaide was compressed into one full lorry load when operatives of the NDLEA intercepted the vehicle, arrested the driver, conductor and a middleman in connection with the illegal content.
Ezeonye said the owner of the consignment who had been identified as a big time hard drug baron is currently being trailed by operatives of the command as she combined other seizures of cannabis sativa from different part of the state to totalled 4 tons, 145.2545 kilogrammes within the year under review.
The NDLEA boss listed 1.92834 hectares of cannabis farms destroyed from different locations within the past one year in the state as part of its achievement so far while the psychotropic substances seized in the period under review weighed 98.292 kilograms as well as 2.3grammes of cocaine also seized by the command.
She posited that the command during the period secured 71 convicts while other cases are pending at various levels in the federal high court in Makurdi and 23 drug users were rehabilitated and counselled.
Ezeonye however lamented upsurge of cannabis cultivation in the state, maintaining that the agrarian state was never included among states in the federation known to cultivate or produce the dry leaves until in 2012 when the first farm was discovered.
"These days, Benue people have abandoned the cultivation of food products which they are known for to cultivate cannabis. And almost 70 percent of the hard drugs produced in farms in the state are consumed within while only 30 percent finds its way out of the state," she said.