LAGOS, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Wednesday said it apprehended 89 persons for trafficking illicit drug in oil rich southern Bayelsa state in the first quarter of the year.

The agency recorded a total seizure of 73.779 kilograms of different classes of illicit drugs in the state, he added, noting that of the total number of suspects arrested, 68 were males while 21 were females, said Ikenna Osakwe, a spokesperson for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, in Yenagoa, the state capital.

He said from the statistics of drug exhibits seized, Cannabis Sativa accounted for the highest drug abused with a total of 62.093 kilograms.

Osakwe decried the high rate of violent crimes in the state such as assassinations, kidnapping, cultism, rape, burglary and theft, as such dysfunctional behaviors were carried out under the influence of illicit drugs.