By SUZAN EDEH

BAUCHI — The Bauchi State Command of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has said it arrested at least 221 suspects in possession of 1,253.147 kgs of illicit drugs including cannabis sativa and psycho-tropic substances.

The state commander, Mr. Para Julius Bawa, who made the disclosure, yesterday, at the command headquarters in Bauchi  said the arrest was part of the achievements the agency recorded  in 2013.

The commander said: ”Out of the 221 suspects  arrested, 124 were charged to the Federal High Court  and arraigned for prosecution . Forty six others were convicted, 79 were  counselled while 18 are in the agency’s custody awaiting arraignment before the court.”

He said the items recovered from the suspects include six vehicles and 15 motorcycles which were used for the distribution of the drugs.

Bawa, who expressed the command’s readiness to rehabilitate drug suspects in the state, said the command had  75 parentss who brought their children for counselling, rehabilitation and re-integration into the society.

He stressed that the command is not resting on its oars to tackle the supply of drug  through increased surveillance, raid operations, seminars, symposia and workshops for target groups.

The NDLEA boss noted that the command is facing a lot of challenges with a particular reference to lack of patrol vehicles, funding and lack of useful information from the public on the activities of drug abusers.

He charged the court at all levels to judiciously handle the agency cases with speed to ensure equal justice as a demonstration to help rid the society from drugs abuses.

He said: “I want to use this medium to appreciate stakeholders and sister security agencies who have partnered with the agency in the fight against drug abuse and trafficking during the year under review.”