Some of the seized drugs
The Edo State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has discovered a cannabis village in Okpuje forest in Owan West Local Government Area of the State.
The State Commander, Buba Wakawa, who disclosed this in Benin City said that the drug village, comprising four large cannabis warehouses, had a total of two hundred and thirty-three thousand, seven hundred and seventy-eight kilograms ( 233,778kg) of the dried weeds with an estimated street value of over 1.4 billion naira.
According to Wakawa, seven suspected drug barons believed to be running the cannabis trafficking syndicate were arrested.
The NDLE top shot enthused that the seizure was the largest single concentration of cannabis discovered by the command, giving the breakdown of the drugs as 318 bags of 80kg each weighing 25,440kg, 15,853 bags of 13kg weighing 206,089kg.
He gave the total quantity seized as 2,249kg and others weighing 231,529kg were destroyed at the farm.
Wakawa ascribed the success of the operation to the enabling environment created by the new Chairman/Chief Executive of the Agency, Brigadier General Buba Marwa.
“We took delivery of two new Hilux operational vehicles presented to the command last week. This is the first assignment of the vehicles and it turned out to be the best for the command. We are grateful to the chairman, and this is a clear warning that there is no room for drug barons in the State”, he disclosed.
The seizures, he added, represented a large chunk of the previous cannabis planting season, saying, “they planted, watered, harvested and processed the drug only for us to dispossessed them of their labour because their action is criminal. The warehouses are located in the heart of the forest, yet we were able to uncover them based on intelligence gathering”.
“The cannabis warehouses were located at Okpuje forest in Owan West Local Government Area of the State. The community that is notorious for cannabis cultivation and trafficking as well as attacks on law enforcement officers, stood still as a combined team of NDLEA and combatant military personnel overran the drug trafficking syndicates due to our superior fire power”, Wakawa.
The suspected drug barons, according to him included the chairman of vigilante in Ukpuje, Emmanuel Oki, 62 years, Chief Odi Sabato, 42 years and Bright Inemi Edegbe, 53 years. Others are Gowon Ehimigbai, 53 years, Enodi Ode, 37 years, Ayo Oni, 30 years and Akhime Benjamin, 43 years.
The joint team of NDLEA and Army officers that carried out the raid had a strength of 80 personnel, while the operation that lasted from Thursday night through Friday night February 5, 2021 was jointly coordinated by the Officer in charge of Strike Force, James Olarewaju, the Principal Staff Officer Operations, Bisong Peter and Captain Abdullahi Abukori.
Wakawa thanked the Four Brigade Commander in Benin City, Brigadier General, M. A. Sadik, for the logistics and personnel assistance that led to the successful clampdown on the cannabis syndicates in the area.
He described the synergy between the Nigerian Army and NDLEA in the State as an unbeatable force against drugs and related crime in the society.
The suspects, he added, would be investigated and the case charged to court soon.
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