43 Drug Dealers Arrested as NDLEA Raids Ondo, Nasarawa, Benue

By Michael Olugbode

No fewer than 43 dealers and consumers of illicit substances have been arrested in a fresh raid in Nasarawa, Benue and Ondo States by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), recovering 137.55 kilogrammes assorted drugs.

Few days ago, the NDLEA in a coordinated raids of seven states of Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Enugu, Bauchi, Edo and Anambra seized a total of 8,268.2 kilogrammes of assorted illicit drugs.

In the latest raids, according to the spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in Nasarawa State, “NDLEA operatives backed by a detachment of soldiers from 177 battalion of the Nigerian Army in Keffi, raided notorious drug joints in Kara Masaka, Ruwa Ruwa Uke, Abattoir at the border with Abuja, Filing Bala, Masaka U-Turn and other places for two days, August 5 and 6, 2021, during which at least 41 suspects were arrested and assorted drugs such as cocaine, cannabis sativa, cough syrup (codeine), rohypnol and tramadol with a total weight of 65.250 kilogrammes recovered. He disclosed that cannabis planted by the drug dealers in the adjoining bushes were destroyed while all the stalls in the drug markets were dismantled and set ablaze.

Babafemi said in the same vein, operatives of the Ondo State Command of the agency in the early hours of August 9, 2021, raided Odopetu area of Akure, the state capital, where one Mrs. Folake Ademola, 44, was arrested while her husband fled.

Babafemi said recovered from their home included 65.4 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa; skunk, 500 grammes; loud, 16 grammes; and Colorado, 34 grammes, bringing the total of drugs seized from them to 65.95 kilogrammes.

In Benue State, a 34-year-old Iornum Emmanuel was arrested at the NDLEA Aliade checkpoint on August 8, 2021, with different quantities of assorted drugs, which included tramadol, 500 grammes; diazepam, 1.5 kilogrammes, and exol, 5-7.9 kilogrammes.

Reacting to the latest raid, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the commanders, officers and men of the Nasarawa, Ondo and Benue State Commands for their commitment to the goal of ridding the country of the menace of drug abuse and trafficking.