Chairman/chief executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohammed Marwa (rtd), has said the anti-narcotics body would deploy personnel in all 774 local government areas of the country in 2024 as part of efforts to strengthen the war against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking, especially in local communities.
He stated this while responding to a request for partnership and deployment of more NDLEA officers in all parts of Katsina by the state governor, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, check drug abuse and insecurity in the state.
Marwa said with the agency’s staff strength expected to rise to 15,000 by the end of the year, the next development is to deploy in the LGAs.
“We currently have zonal commands, state commands and area commands. We want to go to the LGAs for the offensive action and the advocacy work. We would need more support to succeed. I appreciate the work of the Katsina governor as the challenges are numerous in governing the state. But if insecurity is a problem and is fueled by drugs, I believe we have to collectively take it out of the security equation,” he said.
He commended Governor Radda for his efforts to surmount the various challenges faced and enhance the socio-economic development of the state.
“The drug menace is a huge issue and has destroyed the lives of our youths and communities. It is the public enemy number one, and especially the criminal aspect of it. 99 per cent of the criminals must first have access to drugs and be under the influence to perpetrate some of their acts.
That is why the NDLEA under the collective support of the directorates and the management has put all efforts towards operation ‘offensive action.’ This involves going out to seize all drugs cultivated, imported or on the verge of being exported out of the country. Over 6,668 tons of illicit substances have been seized in two years, and we assure that we will continue relentlessly until the streets are clean of drugs. This is the drug supply reduction aspect, where we arrest the perpetrators of the act, and over 36,096 suspects have been arrested and more than 6,043 already prosecuted and convicted within this period.”
Governor Radda said he was at the agency as part of his government’s efforts to solve the problem of insecurity facing the state.
“It is no longer news that the problem of insecurity has been ongoing for years and insecurity is one of the major issues confronting Katsina State. We receive unpleasant news almost on a daily basis on what has been the issues disturbing the state for a long time. We have taken some needful steps, we set up a Katsina community watch corps with locals to complement the efforts of the conventional security agencies but that is not enough,” the governor said.
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