A 40-year-old wheel barrow pusher, a 29-year-old securityman and five others were on Monday paraded by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Abia State Command, in Aba for being in possession of hard drugs.

Both Agbaeze Kalu (40), a barrow pusher, and Saidu Iliayasu, 29, a securityman at Maranatha private hostel at the Abia State University, Uturu, were arrested for being in possession of substances suspected to be cannabis (Indian Hemp).

The other five suspects were Uzochukwu Nnanna (35), Kingsley Ugwubueze (31), Solution Kingsley (22), Ikechukwu Nwankpa (31) and Ugochukwu Nwachukwu (22).

They were arrested at different locations across the state last month with psychotropic substances weighing a total of about 14.23 kilograms, according to the NDLEA State Commander, Mr Bamidele Akingbade.

Akingbade told newsmen while parading the suspects that some of the psychotropic substances in their possession when they were nabbed were cocaine, heroin and Indian hemp.

Kalu, the wheel barrow pusher, said he went to buy hemp for personal consumption when he was caught by the vigilante in Aba and handed over to NDLEA.

He said that smoking of the weed gives him extra strength to continue working even when he is weak.

“I now know that it is dangerous to my health and when I leave here I will not return to it,” he said.

Iliaysu was nabbed during a raid by the police in Uturu after two students of the university were murdered and subsequently beheaded by suspected cultists.

According to Iliaysu, he was arrested for being in possession of Indian Hemp worth over N3,000 from which he could have made a gain of N2,000.

Another suspect who gave his name as Uzochukwu Nnanna revealed that policemen nabbed him with Indian Hemp and later handed him over to the NDLEA. He confessed that he was pushed into the illicit trade because of hardship.

Twenty-two years old Solution Kingsley said he was caught with cocaine (“White”). He narrated that he ventured into cocaine hawking after the death of his father when he finished his secondary education and needed money to further his studies.

Kingsley hinted that it was in his quest to seek help that he met a man called Nwa-Charlie who introduced him to the cocaine business as a way to help him raise money and further his education.

Kingsley Ugwubueze, a native of Ohaji/Egbema in Imo State, said he was living in Ibadan by Orlu Street when he was caught for being in possession of Indian Hemp last month.

Ikechukwu Nwankpa, 31, from Eziama Nvosi who lives at Omuma Road in Aba, said he was arrested with hemp.

He said he was a shoemaker until he had a problem and had no money to continue with the trade and then his friend introduced him hemp trade to enable him to survive.

Ugochukwu Nwachukwu from Ugiri Mbano, Imo State, said his father died in December last year and since he had no helper, he took to the business of selling Indian Hemp until he was caught.

The suspects pleaded for pardon, vowing never to indulge in either consumption or sale of the hard drugs.

However, Akingbade said they would be charged to the Federal High Court in Umuahia when investigations are concluded.