Police clamp down on ‘Downtown’ in Warri, arrest 10 drug suspects

A combined team of police operatives, late Tuesday, clamped down on popular ghetto in Warri known as ‘Downtown,’ arresting about 10 boys and girls neck-deep in drug abuse.

The operation, said to have been led by CSP Eyoh Anietie, who’s the District Police Officer (DPO) of Ebrumede Divisional Headquarters, lasted for about two hours, at the suburb where unimaginable salacious activities hold sway.

TribuneOnline gathered that some of the hoodlums, who fled into the marshy woods, engaged the security operatives in a heavy shootout, leading to the burning down of a tarpaulin shed.

Pandemonium ensued as a result of the shootouts, it was gathered, as residents of the area scampered to safety.

‘Downtown,’ it was gathered, is a notorious place where young boys and girls go to indulge themselves in criminal activities including sales and heavy consumption of illicit drugs.

The area, situated along Esisi Road, GRA, Warri, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, is described as a hideout for hardened criminals and a place where the worst unimaginable vices happen on daily basis.

It was also a primordial flashpoint during the ignoble Warri inter-communal war between the Ijaw and Itsekiri between 1999 and 2001.

ALSO READ: CUPP to new IGP: Release all political detainees 

According to a resident, who lives close to the hideout, who declined being identified for fear of being dealt with, ‘Downtown’ ranks among the Gomorrah of the present dispensation.

“This place na so so smoke, na bad gang, where boys and girls dey come, do their smoking of Igbo, cocaine, hard drugs nai dey do there, both small, and big nai dey come, no kind of thing wen nor dey happen for this downtown as you dey hear so,” she hushed in pidgin.

As of Wednesday morning, when TribuneOnline returned to the terrain disguised, the boys were seen regrouping and raising their voices among themselves over the police invasion.

Some were also seen right at the spot of the burnt down tarpaulin cover and bush bar, beside a swampy layout, where the illicit activities are being daily perpetrated.

TribuneOnline could number about 15 boys and girls present, while some residents were watching the drama playing out among the youths already under the heavy influence of mind-bending substances.

A technician, whose shop is a stone throw from the spot, said, “that’s how they normally behave after taking their concoctions,” adding that in no distance time the hoodlums would be back to continue their normal drug business.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Delta Command, Mr Andrew Aniamaka, could not be reached for comments, but a senior officer of the command, who are not authorised to speak to journalists, confirmed the Tuesday raid and arrest to TribuneOnline.

He said further raids would be carried out to flush out criminals and hoodlums from their comfort zone across the state, especially with the return of CSP Anietie, now popularly called “Calabar” to Warri Command.