Lagos – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Monday said that it arrested 19 suspects at seaports for drug-related offences between January and June 2012.
Mr Mitchell Ofoyeju, its Head of Public Affairs, who disclosed this in Lagos, said that the figure represented total arrests at all the seaports.
He said that the figure was lower than that of the same period in 2011 when 22 suspects were arrested.
He said that the agency also seized 113.50 kg of heroin and 17.26 kg of cannabis at the ports in the first half of 2012.
According to him, the seizures were also lower than those made in the corresponding period in 2011 when 280.61 kg of cocaine was seized.
Ofoyeju said the effective security measures adopted by the agency led to the reduction in both arrests and seizures as the perpetrators kept away from the seaports.
In May 2012, a large quantity of heroin worth N2.2 billion was intercepted by the Agency in collaboration with the British authorities at the Tin-Can Island Port.
The heroin, weighing about 113.50kg, was concealed in three moulding machines in a 20 ft container imported from Islamabad, Pakistan.
The search was conducted at the Headquarters of the NDLEA in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The consignment was cleared from the Tin Can Port, but anti-narcotic operatives, working on intelligence, trailed the container to Okota, Lagos, where it was intercepted. (NAN)
