National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Bayelsa Command, on Wednesday, said it arrested 38 drug suspects and seized 29.751 kilogrammes of illicit drugs in the state in September, 2017.
The command’s Principal Staff Officer and Superintendent of Narcotics, Osakwe Ikenna, gave the figure in a statement obtain by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa.
Ikenna stated that the suspects included 26, male adults and 12, female offenders.
He said that the illicit drugs seized from the suspects comprised cannabis sativa, psychotropic substances, heroin and cocaine.
Ikenna said that statistics of arrest and seizure investigations showed high rate of abuse of psychotropic substances especially tramadol by both old and young people in communities across Bayelsa.
The NDLEA official expressed concern over the high rate of abuse of tramadol in the state by women and youths.
He said the command successfully counseled more than 25 substance dependent persons in Bayelsa from July to September 2017.
According to him, the trend in the consumption of tramadol and other psychotropic substances in the state was alarming.
He said that the State Commander of the agency, Abdullahi Abdul, would convene stakeholders meetings and rallies to sensitise the residents on the dangers of consumption of illicit drugs.
Ikenna appealed to parents and guardians in the state to keep watch over the activities of their children and wards to ensure that they were not misled or pressured into illegal drug use.
He appealed to the people of Bayelsa to ensure vigilance over illegal drug activities in their communities.
He also urged them to report such activities to the state command for further action with full assurances of confidentiality.