Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (Rtd) has warned drug barons and traffickers of his agency’ resolve to smoke them out of their hiding places and bring them to justice.
He gave the warning on Sunday while reacting to the arrest of seven drug barons operating four large warehouses in Ukpuje forest, Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, where a total of 16,344 bags of cannabis and weeds, weighing 233,778kg were seized, in addition to two pump action and one double barrel guns.
NDLEA spokesman, Mr. Jonah Achema, on Sunday in Abuja put the estimated street value of the haul at over N1.4bn.
According to him, the suspects now in NDLEA custody included, Emmanuel Oki, 62, who is the Chairman of the vigilante group in Ukpuje, Chief Odi Sabato, 42, and Bright Inemi Edegbe, 53, Gowon Ehimigbai, 53, Enodi Ode, 37, Ayo Oni, 30 and Akhime Benjamin, 43.
Achema also quoted the Edo State Commander of the anti-drug agency, Buba Wakawa, as saying this was the largest single concentration of cannabis discovered by the command.
“However, while the total quantity seized is 2,249 kilograms, others weighing 231,529 kilograms were destroyed inside the warehouses,” he said.
Wakawa credited the newly appointed Chairman of the agency, Marwa, with the success of the operation.
He said, “We took delivery of two new Hilux operational vehicles presented to the command last week. This is the first assignment of the vehicles and it turned out to be the best for the command. We are grateful to the Chairman, and this is a clear warning that there is no room for drug barons in the state.”
Reacting to the development, Marwa, while commending the Commander, men and officers of the Edo State Command as well as those of the Nigeria Army in Benin City, for their support to ensure the success of the operation, said such offensives would be sustained across the country.
He said, “I remember I made it clear in my inaugural remarks upon assumption of duty on January 18, while sounding a note of warning to those involved in this illicit trade to either back out or have the NDLEA to contend with because our maxim must and will remain offensive action; to smoke the drug barons and traffickers out of their holes, forests and bunkers. The heat is on and we’ll continue to increase the furnace until we smoke them out of their hiding places to face the law.”
According to Marwa, with recent huge hauls of cocaine and heroin at Lagos and Abuja airports, cannabis and others in Nasarawa and Katsina state, the NDLEA would continue to expand its dragnet until the war against illicit drugs was won.
