A snake guarded shrine used to store illicit drugs in Igor community, Benin City, Edo State, has been raided by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), who detected a specially constructed large hole storage in a wall covered with wallpapers and fetish objects.
A statement by Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokesman, said different quantities of illicit substances such as methamphetamine, Loud, Colorado and Arizona, all strong strains of cannabis with a total weight of 8.743 kilogrammes, were pulled out from the deep hole dug in the wall of the shrine building.
It said at least, 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.
It said 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 kilogrammes 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 loud speakers.
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 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. He claimed to have been in the illicit drug business for 10 years.
With the same vigour, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, work places and communities, among others, in the past week.
Source: INDEPENDENT
