According to a DEA release, burning of the drugs was part of activities marking International Drugs Day set aside by the United Nations to be celebrated against illicit drug trafficking and abuse worldwide.

The day is observed on June 26 each year but was celebrated on June 27 because it fell on a Sunday.

This year's observance was under the theme: "Think Health, Not Drugs," with a call on the world to discourage the use, sale, and trafficking of illicit drugs among humans.

Speaking to the Liberia News Agency at the site of the burning, DEA Chief of Leeward Counties, Col. Alphonso Ramcy, disclosed that the 4,833 kg of illicit drugs was arrested from drug cultivators in Nimba County alone, while the 28 cocaine raps and raw cocaine were arrested from drug traffickers in Nimba County who brought them from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Nigeria.

Col. Ramcy indicated that their action to destroy the illicit drugs and other harmful substances in Nimba is based on a mandate from the Director of the DEA in consultation with the County Administration and
County Attorney.

The DEA official also disclosed that some of those involved in drug use, sale and trafficking have been duly prosecuted and penalized in keeping with the law.
LINA SKZ/TSS/PTK