9,824 suspects arrested for drug-related offences in 2018 – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics says no fewer than 9,824 arrests were made for drug-related offences at various ports and border posts across the country in 2018.
The NBS said this in Drug Seizure and Arrest Statistics for 2018 posted on its website.
The bureau stated that 9,122 of the suspects arrested were male while 702 were female.
The report said that 1,236 were convicted in 2018 while 1,002 were on counseling.
It said that 267,635 kilogramme (kg) of exhibits were destroyed while 3,660 hectares of farmland were also destroyed.
In addition, the report said that 316, 365 kg of drugs were seized by the National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency.
It also said that a total of 271,812 kg of Cannabis, also known as marijuana was seized in the year.
According to the report, this represents 85.9 per cent of the total drug seized within the period under review.
It further said that Tramadol followed closely with 22,562kg seized representing 7.1 per cent of the total drug seized.
It said that Edo recorded the highest kg (42,402) of drug seizure while Borno recorded the least with 147.54kg of drugs seized.
The data for the report was provided by the NDLEA, verified and validated by the NBS.