The Anambra State Police Command has arrested six suspected drug peddlers, including a female, during a raid on a drug trafficking network in the Isuaniocha community of Awka North Local Government Area.

The arrested suspects were identified as Chinyere Onwuka (32), John Kennedy Onwuka (36), Chidiebere Onyeze (30), Echeazu Nonso (35), Osita Chukwu Chialuka (21), and Nnebedum Wisdom (25).

Spokesman for the command, Tochukwu Ikenga, who disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, said the operation was carried out in the early hours of Friday by operatives attached to the Special Cultism Squad, Obosi Sector, following credible intelligence.

According to Ikenga, a large quantity of substances suspected to be hard drugs was recovered from the suspects during the raid.

Reacting to the development, the state Commissioner of Police, Ikioye Orutugu, expressed concern over the rising rate of drug use among youths, warning that illicit drugs often fuel criminal behaviour and social vices.

“Drugs are the oxygen that drive most crimes and the bad behaviour exhibited by individuals,” Orutugu stated, adding that the command would intensify its anti-drug advocacy through the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices, a youth-focused sensitisation programme.

He said the arrested suspects would be handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Awka, for further investigation and prosecution.