The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) seized 6,975.6kg of illicit drugs in Plateau in the last two years, the agency’s chairman, Buba Marwa, said on Thursday.

Mr Marwa, during a visit to Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau in Abuja, said the seizures also led to the arrest of 1,720 suspects.

He said the agency also secured 156 convictions while the trials of others were ongoing.

Mr Marwa commended the governor for his commitment to ensuring peace and security of lives and property on the Plateau.

He urged the governor to support the agency with a standard rehabilitation centre and activate drug control committees at the state, local government and community levels to further strengthen the NDLEA’s drug demand reduction efforts.

The NDLEA boss said this would be in addition to adopting drug testing policy in schools, homes and communities across the state.

Speaking earlier, Mr Mutfwang commended Mr Marwa’s leadership skills in the turnaround and performance of NDLEA since he assumed the chairmanship of the agency in 2021.

He said, “We’ve followed keenly your performance and we can say that since your coming on board, NDLEA has gone about its functions with more vigour, with more determination.

“And I know that quite a lot of the people who profit from trading illicit drugs have not found it easy since your coming on board.”

On the partnership, the governor said, “On our part as a state, we are willing to be able to collaborate more with you and make sure that we reduce this menace to the barest minimum. And so, we’ve come today just to reinvigorate that cooperation.

“So far, we have enjoyed the cooperation of your staff in our state, and we want to continue to do more, share information and intelligence, and see how we can collaborate,” he affirmed.

The governor and the NDLEA chairman agreed to strengthen collaboration to curb the scourge of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in the state.

(NAN)