59 illicit drug dealers in Bayelsa State have been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
A statement signed by the spokesman for the command, Mr. Osakwe Ikenna, dated Monday, September 26, 2016 disclosed that the number of dealers arrested comprises of 12 females and 47 males.
The arrests led to the seizure of more an estimated 98.902 kilograms of variety of hard drugs in circulation in the state.
Mr. Osakwe, a Superintendent of Narcotics and Principal Staff Officer, Public Affairs, revealed that some of the recovered drugs were gotten by the command’s operatives on motorized patrol along the East-West Road, while others were taken from within the state capital as well as other government areas during raids carried out on notorious joints and the homes of drug dealers.
The Senate on Tuesday began a probe into the allegation that the MTN Nigeria had repatriated $13.9bn from Nigeria to other countries between 2006 and now.
A member of the Senate representing Kogi-West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, while moving a motion based on the ‘Unscrupulous Violation of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act’, alleged that MTN illegally repatriated the amount out of the country through its bankers.
The bankers, according to him, are Stanbic IBTC, which allegedly helped the firm to transfer $4.87bn; Standard Chartered Bank, $5.72bn; Citi Bank, $2.98bn; and Diamond Bank, $0.35bn.
The lawmaker stated that he had documentary evidences to back his claims, some of which he brought to the floor of the chamber and said would be made available for investigation.
The spokesman said: “This haul of seized drugs and arrests is just one of the measures to sound a note of warning to unrepentant drug dealers in the state to desist from this evil and sinister trade.
“The command is poised to locate and apprehend them (illicit drug dealers) wherever they may be hiding and carrying out their illegal and destructive trade”.
“Parents, relatives of drug dependent persons and even drug dependent persons, are hereby encouraged to avail themselves of the counselling and rehabilitation services available at the state command headquarters without fear of arrest.
“Drug dependence has been recognised the world over as a health issue requiring treatment rather than arrest and prosecution.”
Ikenna went on to plead with parents and guardians to gain knowledge on the various drug types as well as signs of their usage, which will equip them to identify possible drug usage amongst their kids and wards.
According to Ikenna, this knowledge will facilitate early intervention from the right sources. He also advised that the words and thoughts of their children should be taken seriously, so as to know when they are crying for help.
”It is trite that there can be no manner of crime perpetrated in the society without the involvement of illicit drugs.
“Consequently, to achieve a peaceful, crime-free and economically viable society, all organisations and individuals must see themselves as stakeholders and contribute to making the state drug free,” the spokesman encouraged.
