National Drug Law Enforcement Agency,NDLEA, says no fewer than one hundred and sixty-two suspected drug traffickers have been apprehended in the last eight years.

Official figures of the NDLEA show that about one hundred and sixty-two suspected drug traffickers are apprehended at the nation’s airports with nine hundred and eighty-two point forty-two kilograms, almost a ton of methamphetamine between twenty-zero-nine and March this year.

Its Head, Public Affairs, Mitchell Ofoyeju, who made this known, says there has been a phenomenal rise in the recruitment of unemployed youths as drug peddlers.

“Mass production of methamphetamine was responsible for the increase in the number of persons in prisons on drug related offences both within and outside the country.

“Methamphetamine production poses a serious threat to humanity because of the toxic nature of chemicals used. The toxic waste generated pollutes the environment.

“About three to six pound of toxic waste is created for every one pound of methamphetamine. This can contaminate the water table and affect plants and mankind within the production areas.

“A regular laboratory contains phosphoric reagents capable of igniting spontaneously on exposure to air and carcinogenic chemicals having the potential to cause cancer,’’ he said.

He explains that local consumption of methamphetamine was currently low as it was more profitable to sell in Asia and Europe where prices are higher.

Ofoyeju says efforts must therefore be intensified in tracing more clandestine laboratories in the country, reiterating NDLEA’s commitment in the fight against drug trafficking.

He says the Chairman of the Agency, Colonel Muhammad Abdallah, has assured Nigerians that he is committed to the total dismantling of drug trafficking organisations.

Abdallah has vowed to trace and shut down all methamphetamine production laboratories in the country.