Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have resisted a barrage of bullets fired by armed thugs who had barricaded all routes in the Edo state local government area of Opuje community, Owan West.
This heinous conduct is intended to keep anti-drug agents from entering forest warehouses, which are home to tonnes of processed psychoactive substances that are being kept for national distribution in advance of the approaching Christmas and New Year’s holiday.
On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, NDLEA police raided the village to set fire to massive warehouses and tents holding over 317,417 kilogrammes (317.4 metric tonnes) of cannabis sativa. The officers were attacked by armed youngsters who had been recruited by drug lords.
In relation to the drugs, at least three suspects—Omoruan Theophilus, 37; Aigberuan Jacob, 42; Ekeinde Anthony Zaza, 53; and Naomi Patience Ohiewere, 42—were taken into custody, according to a statement released on Thursday by Femi Babafemi, Director, NDLEA, Media and Advocacy, Abuja.
The Opuje neighbourhood is well-known for its extensive cannabis cultivation, where gangs invest enormous sums of money, chopping down valuable trees from the forest reserves and planting hundreds of hectares of cannabis. Following harvest, they construct warehouses inside the forest reserves and hire young people with guns to guard the warehouses around-the-clock.
Teams of NDLEA officers were dispatched into the Edo forests to destroy the drug cartels’ warehouses and prevent the psychoactive substance from being distributed to different parts of the country before the holiday season. This action was taken in response to reliable intelligence that the drug cartels had restocked their warehouses in the forest. Last Saturday, some of the warehouses in Esan West LGA’s Ujiogba Forest, which held roughly 6,000 kg of cannabis, were demolished.
However, the armed thugs had barricaded all access roads in the community, so when the NDLEA teams entered the Opuje woodland in the early hours of Monday, December 4, they were met with gunfire. After engaging in a gunfight with the armed thugs for more over two hours, the NDLEA agents were allowed to leave the area.
Sadly, the attack resulted in the injuries of three cops, one of them was shot in the head, and several of the operation’s vehicles were heavily infiltrated with bullets. The injured officers were taken to the hospital immediately, and on Wednesday, December 6, a major surgery was performed to extract the bullets from the critically damaged officer’s brain.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), responded to the attack by threatening those responsible for the operatives’ attacks, saying they would not stop until they were all brought before the law, made to answer for their actions, and had their illegal trade stopped. Marwa praised the professionalism of the officers involved in the operation and stated that the incident will not stop the Agency from carrying out its ongoing offensive action against drug barons and cartels, who are death merchants determined to take the lives of innocent citizens, particularly young people, for their own comfort throughout the nation.
