December 6, 2017

The Bayelsa Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two youths for the illegal possession of arms along the Mbiama Community, Rivers.

The Command said one AK 47 rifle and one English made double barrel pump action were recovered from the suspects during the arrest.

Briefing journalists in Yenagoa, State Commander of the agency, Abdullahi Abdul, said the suspects were arrested by the command’s motorised patrol team on a routine duty on Tuesday.

According to Abdul, the suspects were nabbed on Dec. 1 while smuggling the
arms from Ughelli, Delta, to Rivers for a token of N50,000 from a suspect now at large.

He said that the suspects would be transferred to the appropriate agency for further action after preliminary investigations, as they would be charged to court after interrogations.

He also said that the command had arrested 77 illicit drugs suspects in Bayelsa from October to November.

The state commander said amongst the suspects were 54 male adults and 23 female adults.

He said a total of 124.342kg of different types of illicit drugs were recovered from the suspects.

He decried the abuse of psychotropic substances in the state such as Tramadol, Codeine and Diazepam which he said are in high intake in communities in the state.

Abdul blamed the increase in crime in the state on abuse of illicit drugs by youths.
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He appealed to the Bayelsa Government to assist the command with logistics such as vehicles and boats to enable it fight to the war against illicit drugs in rural communities.

Abdul said the provision of logistics would reduce the spate of killings, armed robberies and other violent crimes across the state
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He urged parents in the state to always educate their children on the dangers of illicit drugs.

He also advised traditional rulers and Churches to assist in preaching against the use of illegal drugs in their communities.