NDLEA Arrests 1,587 Suspects, Seizes 9.4t of Drugs in Plateau
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has seized more than 9.4 tonnes of illicit drugs and arrested 1,587 suspects in Plateau State over the past year. State Commander Anthony Gotar announced the massive haul during a press briefing in Jos on Thursday to mark the United Nations International Day against substance abuse. Operatives confiscated exactly 9,488 kilograms of assorted narcotics and controlled substances between July 2025 and June 2026. The wide-ranging sweep successfully disrupted several embedded trafficking syndicates feeding local consumption channels.
The anti-narcotics campaign also uncovered an alarming influx of weapons hidden alongside the illegal drug shipments. Operatives recovered 486 rounds of live ammunition, twelve rounds of smaller ammunition, three locally fabricated pistols, and two pump-action guns. Gotar stated that these weapon recoveries highlight a growing, dangerous partnership between local drug peddlers and violent regional criminal networks. The agency promptly transferred four suspects linked to the weapons cache to sister security forces for deeper forensic profiling.
Federal prosecutors secured seventy-one formal convictions against drug offenders at the Federal High Court in Jos during the twelve-month review period. Dozens of additional high-profile cases remain pending as legal officers process the massive backlog of detainees. Tactical units focused their intelligence-led raids on notorious urban black spots, including Ojukwu Street and the volatile Congo-Russia axis. The aggressive operations successfully dismantled dozens of open-air retail drug joints and distribution hubs across the state capital.
The agency also expanded its public health response to address the rising domestic demand for addictive synthetic opioids. The command admitted 114 drug-dependent individuals into its mini rehabilitation facility for long-term clinical care and social reintegration. Furthermore, enforcement officers subjected 900 low-level drug users to brief counselling interventions before returning them to their families. The command also conducted over two hundred separate drug awareness enlightenment programmes across regional schools, marketplaces, and worship centres.
This extensive drug sweep occurs against the backdrop of persistent communal instability and banditry across the Middle Belt. Security analysts frequently note that local insurgent groups rely heavily on cheap stimulants to prime their fighters before launching rural raids. Choking off the urban supply lines for these substances remains critical to lowering rural crime rates. The current federal leadership has continually urged regional commands to balance aggressive supply reduction with robust community engagement.
The Plateau command urged residents to provide timely, credible intelligence to assist field officers in sanitising the remaining hideouts. Gotar maintained that defeating the multi-layered drug epidemic requires a collective domestic effort rather than a purely militarised approach. The agency knows that temporary urban seizures only scratch the surface of a highly sophisticated underground economy. Keeping the state safe requires a permanent presence in the most vulnerable border entry points.