Alhaji Misbahu Idris, the State Commander of? NDLEA in Sokoto State, said on Friday that the command arrested 13 suspects and impounded 443 kg of narcotics in less than two weeks.
Idris said that the command had arrested 70 suspects, secured 15 convictions while 20 cases have been in court since January.
The command made this known in Sokoto on Friday when he paraded the suspects, all males, and displayed the seized narcotics.
He said the substances include 90 kg of Indian hemp, 23 kg of diazapam ( D-5) and 330 kg of cough syrup containing codeine being widely abused in the state .
Idris said that all the suspects would soon appear in court .
“It is regrettable that there is an influx of the cough syrup into the state, even people who are not into selling drugs are now selling it.
“For instance, one of the suspects paraded today (Friday) was selling plastics materials in the open but he was secretly selling this brand of cough syrup,'' Idris said.
He restated the resolve of the command to rid the state of all illicit drugs, saying : ‘’ the task is, however, a collective one and not only that of the agency''.
Idris commended the administration of Gov. Aliyu Wamakko for establishing? a committee to rid the state of all forms illicit drugs.
“Efforts are on by the command and the committee to identify and dismantle all drugs spots. We will sustain the current inter-agency collaboration,’’ he said. (NAN)