By Brave Dickson
The Rivers State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has stopped arresting drug suspects because of the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic.
The Command cited court closure and non-admission of drug suspects by prison authorities as major reasons it stopped arresting drug suspects in the state.
The NDLEA also denied releasing drug suspects after collecting money from them adding that the Command only grants administrative bail where necessary.
Speaking with our correspondent, the state Public Relations Officer of the Command, Emmanuel Ogbumgbada also attributed the high rate of domestic violence during the lockdown to drug addicts.
He said: “Following the directives from our national headquarters, we stopped arresting drug suspects because we couldn’t try them in court due to court closure.
“Even when we take the suspects to the correctional centres, the authorities refused to admit our suspects because of congestion of inmates and fear of the coronavirus.
“We also discovered that a lot of the domestic-based violence that soar during the lockdown was perpetrated by drug addicts who easily react when they didn’t see drugs to take.”
The Command’s spokesman also said that the trafficking of drugs in the state reduced during the lockdown, maintaining that much of the drugs in the state come from outside.
He further urged all rape suspects to be made to undergo drug testing to ascertain whether they are acting under the influence of drugs or not.
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