NDLEA Busts Drug-filled Snake-guarded Shrine In Edo

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have busted a snake-guarded shrine used to store illicit drugs in the Igor community, Benin City, Edo State.

The operatives made the move after detecting a specially constructed large hole storage in a wall covered with wallpapers and fetish objects.

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi said in a statement that “different quantities of illicit substances such as Methamphetamine, Loud, Colorado and Arizona, all strong strains of cannabis with a total weight of 8.743 kilograms, were pulled out from the deep hole dug in the wall of the shrine building.”

He also said two ladies, Sonia Chinonso Ezumezu and Risikatu Tijani, were arrested during the intelligence-led operation on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, after the big black snake guarding the shrine was demobilised.

In the same vein, two suspects, Obi Ferguson, 45, and Ernest Abanum, 46, were arrested on Saturday, June 22, when NDLEA operatives raided the Usen Forest in Ovia South West LGA, Edo State, where 209kg cannabis and a motorcycle were recovered.

Meanwhile, NDLEA officers in Lagos have intercepted a carefully packaged consignment of 8.2 kilograms of methamphetamine at a motor park in Mazamaza, Ojo area of the state.

The highly addictive illicit substance, also called ice or crystal meth, was packed in imported Dunkin’ turtle love chocolate wraps and then concealed in the casing of three loudspeakers.

The NDLEA said a 39-year-old suspect, Michael Odiomume, who was sending the consignment to Owerri, Imo State, was promptly arrested on Wednesday, June 19, at the park.

In Abuja, operatives on Tuesday, June 18, intercepted a white Nissan Frontier pick up vehicle with amber lights and fake registration number of a security agency at Kiyi Village in Kuje area of the FCT.

The statement added that “the vehicle was loaded with 454 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa, weighing 340.8kg procured at Uzeba, Edo State.”

A 76-year-old grandfather, Mr Francis Omofa, linked to the consignment was arrested and he claimed to have been in the illicit drug business for 10 years.