The Network Against Corruption and Trafficking (NACAT) has revealed that hard drugs from neighbouring states are concealed in cows and transported to the Federal Capital Capital (FCT) to evade arrest.
According to the organisation, other methods used by the drug traders included concealing the illicit substances in bags of garri, rice, beans, among others.
NACAT Operational Manager, Stanley Ugagbe, disclosed this during a road sensitisation walk against the use of hard drugs in a community abattoir around Karu axis of Abuja, yesterday.
The road walk sensitisation, which started at ECWA junction in Karu, saw the group in company of the personnel of the Abuja command of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) walk through the abattoir to the ended of Abacha Road, Karu.
Ugagbe said that the revelation came on the heel of an investigation carried out by his organisation in the community which shared boundary with Nasarawa State.
According to him, the ‘notorious’ Abuja community is a major hub for the sales of illicit drugs like crack, codeine, molly, tramadol, refnol, rochi, canadian loud, among others.
Quoting a drug dealer, Ugagbe revealed that the drugs are mainly bought in bulk from Delta State, Benin City in Edo State, and Ibadan.
With banners and placards that read “Friends Don’t Let Friends Do Drugs,” “Spot the sign, break the chain,” “Your Potential is Limitless Without Drugs,” “Love Yourself: Break Free from Substance Abuse.”
“Say no to drug trafficking,” among others, the group walked through the area while sensitising the residents against the use of hard drugs.
Ugagbe, who cited Section 11, Part II of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act which prohibits anyone without any lawful authority from importing, manufacturing, producing, processing, planting, or growing, drugs like cocaine, heroin, or any form of illegal drugs, warned the residents against the use of hard drags.
He noted that hard drugs are “not only dangerous to the people using them but also their families and the society at large. When able-bodied men who ought to be contributing meaningfully to the project of nation building resort to hard drugs, we will lose them to those drugs.”
On his part, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command’s officer, NDLEA in charge of sensitisation, Nduka Augustine, lauded NACAT for sensitising residents against the dangers of getting involved in drug use, drug trafficking and drug peddling.
He said that the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa, has graciously said the war against illicit drug use is not something the government can do alone.
“That is why he is happy when organisations take the initiative to collaborate with the agency as they talk to all segments of the society and sensitise them against the dangers of getting involved in illicit drug use and trafficking.”