The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Akwa Ibom State Sector Command, has uncovered ploy by drug traffickers in their nefarious trade of passing illicit substances to their targets to evade suspicion by security agencies.
The sector commander in the state, Obot Bassey, who disclosed this yesterday in an interview monitored in Uyo, the state capital, said operatives of the agency have busted the syndicate, seizing 1.4 kilograms of biscuits laced with illicit drugs.
According to her, several consumables including some processed foods and beverages have become avenues to convey illicit substances in processed forms to the targeted consumers.
Warning people to be wary of the kind of biscuits, beverages and processed food items they purchase for their children, the NDLEA boss vowed to sustain the ongoing drive towards riding the state of such menace which has already hit – hard on the population especially the youths.
She said the fight against profiteers from the illicit drug trade has so far yielded results as the agency has arrested 914 suspects, secured 220 convictions and rehabilitated 96 victims, with the sensitisation campaigns taken deeper to schools, Churches, Mosques and other public places.
The agency, she stated, has even gone to the extent of being invited to administer drugs test on couples in Churches and Mosques on the verge of getting married.
Drugs business, Bassey explained, has become more attractive to traffickers “because it is a major driver of easy cash, given the get – rich – quick syndrome of the gullible Nigerians.”
“The drugs merchants came to steal, kill and destroy. Drugs business is a serious money – making venture, and if you eat such money, it’s equivalent to eating human beings because it’s blood money,” she warned, noting that crimes including armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, terrorism, murder and wanton breaches of laws were being fuelled by drugs and illicit substances abuse.
Speaking on the challenges of policing the drug barons and traffickers, the state NDLEA chief, lamented over deficit in logistics, disclosing that several operatives of the agency have been subjected to machete attacks with several injured, some critical, while taking the fight to their dens.
