Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have invaded clusters of cannabis syndicates operating in the Opuje forests in Edo State where massive warehouses and tents storing over 317,417 kilogrammes of the psychoactive substance were destroyed and set ablaze in a two-day operation.
This is coming few days after the chairman of the NDLEA, Brig Gen Buba Marwa (rtd) vowed to make life tough for drug barons and cartels in the new year if they fail to back out of the illicit trade.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said a 37-year-old police impersonator, Omoruan Theophilus, who parades himself as a police inspector to convey the drugs from the forests to the cities and three others, Aigberuan Jacob (42); Ekeinde Anthony Zaza (53) and Naomi Patience Ohiewere (42), were arrested in connection with the drugs.
The NDLEA said, “the Opuje community in Owan West local government area of Edo State is notorious for cannabis cultivation, where the cartels invest huge resources, cutting down economic trees of the forest reserves and cultivating cannabis on a large scale, running into hundreds of hectares. After harvest, they build warehouses inside the forest reserves and employ the services of armed youths to protect the warehouses 24/7.
“Accessing the forest on Wednesday, January 18 took hours of trekking by hundreds of NDLEA operatives who were ambushed with bonfire by armed youths on their way out of the community the following day but were able to successfully leave the area without any casualty except the heavy investment losses inflicted on the cartels.”
The NDLEA also said in the same vein, the agency, on Thursday January 19, through intelligence received from the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States, busted a criminal syndicate involved in the trafficking of fake dollars in Lagos.
During a combined operation carried out by NDLEA operatives with their Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) counterparts, a total of counterfeit $269,000 were recovered from the syndicate at Oniru Shoprite area of Lekki, Lagos, where three suspects were arrested.
