Drugs: NDLEA Arrests Fake Cop, Soldier, Corps Member, 660 Others

A fake police officer and a soldier also suspected to be fake, as well as a youth corps member, are among 663 drug traffickers and users arrested when operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, raided notorious drug joints in Lagos, Abuja, Benue and other parts of the country last week.

A statement by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s director of Media and Advocacy, revealed that during the raids, assorted illicit drugs weighing over 153, 256.876 kilogrammes were either destroyed or seized.

In Lagos, the notorious drug haven, Akala in the Mushin area of the state, was raided by a combined team of 70 NDLEA operatives and 30 soldiers on Friday, October 15, 2021, in a joint operation code named Operation Still Waters.

During the operation, at least 27 suspects were arrested while various drugs such as Cocaine, Heroin, Tramadol, Rohypnol and Cannabis, with a cumulative weight of 2,463.876 kilogrammes, were seized.

A day earlier, Babafemi continued, operatives also raided drug joints in Ojo and Maryland areas of the state where six persons were arrested and different quantities of drugs seized. This followed another raid of Alhaji Lasisi Street, Idioro, Mushin, as well as Okota in Oshodi-Isolo area of the state during which 12 suspects were arrested and over 165kg of assorted illicit drugs recovered.

Also same Friday, in Ogun state, operatives intercepted one Williams Esuabom along the Ore-Sagamu expressway with 562.5kg  of cannabis being conveyed in a Toyota Sienna bus, while in Benue State, narcotic officers, in a joint operation with soldiers , also raided Lafia park where six suspects, including a youth corps member, Paul Ndubuisi, were arrested with different quantities of drugs.

This came on the heels of the arrest of a suspected fake soldier, Abel John along Apir-Makurdi-Aliade Road with 3.5kg cannabis on Wednesday, October 13, 2021.

In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, a suspected fake Assistant Superintendent of Police, Joshua Yusuf, who claimed to be serving in Kano, was arrested along Gwagwalada expressway while conveying 45.5kg of cannabis.

Three suspects were arrested during raids in Dabba and Luku village, Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State where over 64kg drugs were recovered the same Wednesday.

In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives stormed the forest reserve along Uso Road, Ise-Orun LGA, where they destroyed over 150,000 kilogrammes of cannabis being harvested on 40 hectares of land during an operation that lasted more than three days.

The operation, which began on Tuesday, continued till Sunday, October 17.

In raids across other states in the country, at least 615 suspects were arrested and illicit drugs weighing of 3394.2031 kilogrammes recovered.

While commending officers and men of the Lagos State Command and their counterparts in Benue, FCT, Ogun, Ekiti as well as other parts of the country for their resilience and commitment to the war against illicit substances, Chairman/Chief Executive of the Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), charged them not to rest on their oars. He called for continued collaboration between the Agency and other stakeholders, especially the armed forces and other law enforcement agencies.