DEC arrests over 2,000 for drug offences

The Drug Enforcement Commission has arrested 2,510 people countrywide in the first half of the year for various drug and money laundering offences.

Commission Public Relations Officer Theresa Katongo says as at the end of June 2015, the Commission had arrested 2,470 and convicted 949 people for various drug offences.

Ms Katongo in a statement says the Commission had also arrested 40 and convicted 12 people for money laundering offences involving K4, 751,452.62 and $623,945 United States Dollars.

She says of the 2,470 arrested for drug offences, 2,288 were male and 282 were female while 104 were juveniles aged between 11 to 17 years old.

Ms Katongo adds that out of the 2,470 arrested, 99 were foreign nationals, with Congolese nationals representing the largest number of foreign nationals arrested for drug offences with 32 arrested followed by Malawian nationals with 27.

She states that more people were arrested for drug offences in Lusaka Province compared to other provinces in Zambia, with Lusaka Province recording 496 arrests followed by the Copperbelt Province with 430 and Luapula Province with 306.

Ms Katongo says Muchinga Province had the least arrests with 109 people.

She further states that the Commission, so far, has 1425 drug and 88 money laundering cases pending in the courts of law.

She adds that the Commission seized 97.8 tonnes of cannabis seeds and plants countrywide from January to June this year,over 237kgs of Miraa, 562g of cocaine and 548g of heroin.

Meanwhile, the Commission through its Education and Counseling Department, in the period under review, sensitized 171, 331 people across the country on drug and money laundering issues.

And DEC Commissioner Alita Mbahwe has said the Commission remains committed to the fight against drug abuse, trafficking and money laundering.