Katsina State command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has seized about 1,000 bottles of pentazocine injections, arrested five dealers and 32 substance abusers including a female and person living with disability in a 24-hour sting operation within the state capital.
State Commandant, Muhammed Bashir who paraded the suspects before newsmen at the Command headquarters said, the issue of substance abuse in Katsina is assuming an alarming rate despite the efforts of the Agency and the support from the State Government.
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Among the 37 suspects arrested, is a female and person living with disability. Bashir while parading the suspects noted that, they include five dealers and suppliers of illicit substances while the remaining 32 are users who are all between the ages of 17 and 35.
According to Bashir, “Based on the operation the men of the NDLEA carried out in the last 24 hours. It is so sad that the seizure of one ampule of pentazocine, led the operatives to the seizure of close to 1,000 ampules of pentazocine which is one the narcotic injections that is been abused now in the state”.
He added that one user, Kameel Abdulsalam who was arrested with one ampule of the injection, led to the busting of the other dealers and suppliers where large quantities of the pentazocine injections were recovered.
The Commandant further said that, the suspects will be categorised for immediate attention which include counseling and rehabilitation.
According to him, “We are going to separate them as those who actually need serious interventions and counseling and rehabilitation and integration, the government is supporting us with that, we are going to keep them here. Those who actually need brief intervention, we are going to do intervention for them and allow them to go and probably do a kind of follow up. But the essence is, not just arrest them, counsel then and leave them go, we want to keep them for a period of 3 months where some of them will go through proper counseling and rehabilitation, while doing that, we expect them to learn a vocation, probably shoe making, we already discussed that the craft centre and another NGO in the area of ICT so that, by the time they are leaving here, they are not just leaving as drug free but will be able to have something to do”.
Bashir also added that, the five dealers arrested will undergo prosecution calling on members of the public to keep giving timely and actionable intelligence to help rid the state off drugs.
The substances seized from the suspects include about 1,000 bottles of pentazocine injections, rubber solutions, suck and die, sachets of cannabis sativa, Exol five tablets among others.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
