By Olukayode Idowu
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has smashed a party organised for illicit substance abuse at a lounge in Osogbo, the Osun state capital, arresting the organisers who were found in possession of drugs.
A statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi said the clampdown was made on Saturday, following credible intelligence that some persons were going to hold a night party tagged “Unholy Alliance…for Stoners and Drunkards” where different types of illicit substances were going to be sold and consumed by patrons.
He said soon after the organisers began to gather at Berrymist Lounge located at Ofatedo area of Osogbo to start the party, NDLEA operatives swooped on them, arrested them and recovered illicit substances of abuse and drug paraphernalia from them.
He said those arrested include: Ikotu Omolayo, 25; Fola Olabode, 30, and Akorede Ajibola, 22, adding that the management of the Lounge has also been invited for further investigation.
According to him, this comes on the heels of an earlier raid lastThursday at Area 5 Forest Reserve, Ile-Ife where operatives recovered 156 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa.
Babafemi also disclosed that operatives in Ogun state last Friday arrested two suspects: Adamu Ibrahim and Nura Sani at Ileke trailer garage, along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, where 859 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa concealed among bags of sugar in a truck for onward transportation to Mokwa, Niger state.
He said the consignment was loaded in Ogbese, Ondo state and hidden among bags of cement in a truck before being transloaded into another trailer bearing sugar in Ogun state.
In Edo state, operatives last Monday stormed a warehouse at Obi Camp in Owan West local government area where they recovered 338 kilogrammes of cannabis concealed in sacks of charcoal, while in another operation in Ikhin forest, Owan East local government area, NDLEA officers seized 235 kilogrammes of the same psychoactive substance last Saturday. A suspect, Onah Ikechukwu, 32, was arrested at Jattu, Etsako West local government area with 11,690 capsules of tramadol, 295 bottles of codeine syrup and various quantities of molly, cannabis and methamphetamine last Wednesday.
A similar raid in Lagos last Wednesday at Enu-Owa Street, Lagos Island led to the recovery of 40,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 440,000 pills of tramadol in a store belonging to a suspect, Ebuka Amechi who is currently at large. Not less than 135,600 capsules of tramadol and 950 grammes of cannabis were seized from two suspects: Afamefuna Ibekwe, 37, and Sunday Onweh, 41, at Nkpor, Akuzor and Ose-Ogbaijo, Onitsha, respectively, while 37,360 pills of different opioids and 250 bottles of codeine syrup coming from Onitsha, Anambra enroute Abuja were recovered from Muhammed Khamis, 22, last Thursday along Okene- Lokoja-Abuja expressway.
Operatives in Ekiti state seized a total of 288 kilogrammes of cannabis at Odo-Owa forest in Ijero local government area last Saturday. At least, 116 kilogrammes of same psychoactive substance were seized from a suspect, Chinagoram Obaru, 24,
who was arrested at Iju forest last Thursday.
He noted that Commands across the 36 states and the FCT equally continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization lectures in schools, communities, work places and others. Some of these include: WADA sensitisation lecture for students and staff of Comprehensive High School, Abia, Udi LGA, Enugu; teachers and students of Dr. Nuhu Sanusi Junior/Senior Secondary School, Dutse, Jigawa; students of Haneef High School, Jos, Plateau; students of Akinorun Muslim Grammar School, Ikirun, Osun; students of Zaibadari Michika Primary, Junior and Senior Secondary School, Michika, Adamawa; and students of Madarasatul-Islamiya Baichin Kako, Marna Gusau, Zamfara state, among others.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) while commending the arrests and seizures of the past week by officers and men of the Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Anambra, Ekiti, Kogi and Lagos Commands, charged them and their compatriots across all formations of the agency to continue to remain vigilant and double their efforts especially with the desperation of criminal networks to make money by all means as the yuletide season approaches.
