NDLEA Busts Drug Syndicate in Abuja

By Michael Olugbode

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 300-level university student, Rhoda Agboje, and her boyfriend, Ifeanyi Nwankwo, for allegedly selling drug cookies.

The duo specialize in the production of drug cookies, who they subsequently sell to unsuspecting members of the public in Abuja.

According to a statement on Tuesday by the spokesman of the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, narcotics agents with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command of the NDLEA have also launched a manhunt for another member of the syndicate.

The cookies are produced with Arizona, a highly psychoactive variant of cannabis; alcohol and Rohypnol among other ingredients.

Babafemi said the lid was blown open following the arrest of Agboje with four pieces of the drug cookies on Sunday, April 18, 2021.

According to him, Agbaje was arrested at the NNPC Cooperative Estate, opposite Gaduwa Estate in Abuja based on a complaint that she gave an unsuspecting young girl the cookies to eat, which resulted in the girl losing her mind and could not sleep, making incoherent utterances due to the effects of the cookies.

She later under interrogation, confessed she prepares the cookies with a friend and sells each pack of three pieces at N1,500.

A follow up operation in her boyfriend’s house led to the recovery of over 200 pieces of the drug cookies, according to the statement.

The Commander, FCT Command of the NDLEA, Mohammed Sokoto, speaking on the incident, said: “The boyfriend, Ifeanyi Nwankwo, and all the equipment used for the production of the cookies were brought to the office for further investigation. The suspect confirmed that she sells at parties and to unsuspecting members of the public, including school children that are the most vulnerable. The suspect also supplies some supermarkets and clubs in the FCT.”

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), while commending officers and men of the FCT Command for unraveling the syndicate, said what the syndicate did was not only criminal but equally unconscionable by deliberately luring school children into drug under the cover of selling to them biscuits or cookies.

He said: “I wish to draw the attention of parents to this new devious strategy to get children addicted to drug cookies and to urge them to remain vigilant while monitoring what their wards bring home from school or consume as snack.”