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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Abia State Command, has seized about 1.94 million kilogrammes of illicit drugs and arrested 222 suspects in one year.
Briefing journalists in Aba during the week long events to commemorate the ‘2025 United Nations Day Against Drug Abuse,’ coming up on 26th June, 2025, Acting Commander of NDLEA, Abia Command, Mr. Chigbu Odoemelam Chilee, stated that despite the seizures and arrests, the command has intensified measures to check the use and sale of illicit drugs.
Chilee also disclosed that Aba is the only rehabilitation centre the agency has in Abia. However, he added that Governor Alex Otti has made provision for another centre in Umuahia, which may be ready in a few months.
He said that the problem of illicit drugs in Abia cannot be overemphasized, stressing that the number of arrest, seizure, and people coming for rehabilitation, shows that Abia state faces a huge challenge in drug abuse and trafficking.
He said; “For the past one year, we have seized one million and ninety four kilograms of illicit drugs. These drugs include cannabis, sativa, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, diazepam, codeine, etc. The most prevalent here is methamphetamine which is known as mkpurummiri, in our local parlance.
“We also arrested two hundred and twenty-two suspects in one year here. We fight anti drug war in two phases, one is supply reduction, and the other is demand reduction. In supply reduction, I have given you the statistics on seizure.
“However, in demand reduction, we are talking about sensitization and rehabilitation. In rehabilitation, Abia Command of the NDLEA has one of the best facilities considering the number of clients and the records available.”
The acting commander further stated that Aba and Umuahia, are the major flashpoints of the illicit drug business in Abia State.
He assured that NDLEA Abia has area commands that equally cover the rural areas and the 17 council areas of the state, as the agency is leaving no stone unturned in combating the use and sale of illicit drugs in the state.
