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Nigeria’s drug cases balloon by over 6000% in one year, North Central highest –NBS

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Nigeria's drug cases balloon by over 6000% in one year, North Central highest –NBS

The total number of drug cases in Nigeria soared from 9,831 in 2018 to 621,035.46 in 2019, equivalent to 6,217% increase, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

According to the NBS’ Drug Seizure and Arrest Statistics Report 2019, the North Central region led drug cases in Nigeria by geopolitical zones, rising from 1,311 in 2018 to 517,711.69 in the review year.

The South West region came next, with drug cases surging from 1,260 to 44,744.13 between 2018 and 2019.

The region with the lowest drug cases was the North East, which saw an increase from 1,608 to 4,490.81 within the periods.

On the volume side, 612,547.89 kilogrammes (kg) of narcotic drug were seized in 2019, 274.22% higher than the 163,684.44kg reported the year before.

Kwara, Edo and Ondo recorded the biggest quantities of narcotic drugs across the states, accounting for 502,605kg; 23,186kg and 21,451kg respectively.

Read also: Police bursts drug syndicate, arrests suspects

Nasarawa, Zamfara and Imo were responsible for the smallest quantities at 68kg, 196kg and 232kg in that order.

A decrease was reported in the number of arrests made in 2019 at 9,479 compared to 9,779 in 2018. Of the total arrests made, 908 were female while 8,571 were male.

“A total of 397 counselling cases were reported in 2019 as against 730 in 2018 while 397 counselling were concluded in 2019 as against 440 in 2018.

“9,418 suspects were prosecuted in 2019 as against 9,779 in 2018 while 1,120 were convicted in 2019 as against 1,220 in 2018,” the NBS said.

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