NDLEA convicts 8, 673 for drug offences

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has convicted 8,637 drug offenders in the past five years. The Chairman/Chief Executive of the Agency, Ahmadu Giade, who said that the convictions will serve as a deterrence to drug traffickers, further disclosed that the agency had maintained an impressive annual average conviction of 1,727 since 2010.
Spokesperson for the agency, Mitchel Ofoyeju, made this known in a release made available to the Daily Times.
The NDLEA boss attributed the remarkable conviction scorecard to strict adherence to prosecution policy of the agency.
“NDLEA has one of the highest criminal conviction scorecards among security agencies in the country. In line with our prosecution policy, all arrested drug traffickers are diligently prosecuted. Conviction is a top priority to us because it serves as a punishment to offenders, while it also deters many from indulging in drug trafficking” Giade stated.
According to Giade, “in 2010, the NDLEA won 1,509 convictions, in 2011, 1,491 while in 2012, the number of persons convicted rose to 1,718. The convictions further increased to 1,865 in 2013 and 2,054 in 2014. This brings the total number of drug offenders sentenced to various jail terms since 2010 to 8,637. We also investigate and confiscate the assets of drug traffickers”.
He stated that the conviction of 2,054 drug offenders in 2014 was a striking improvement over the 1,865 and 1,718 recorded in 2013 and 2012 respectively. Besides, he said the sentencing pattern has improved with a drastic decline in the award of options of fine as well as terms of imprisonment below six months.
Some notable convictions include, the imprisonment of a Pakistani Bukhari Syed Wassem to 10 years imprisonment for the importation of 13kg of heroin into Nigeria.