NDLEA raids Edo woodlands, destroys 317 tonnes of marijuana warehouses, and makes 4 arrests

A group of cannabis syndicates operating in the Opuje forests of Edo state have been dealt a fatal blow by NDLEA agents, who destroyed and set ablaze large warehouses and tents holding more than 317,417 kilogrammes (317.4 metric tonnes) of the psychoactive substance over the course of a two-day operation.

Three other people, Aigberan Jacob, 42, Ekeinde Zaza, 53, and Patience Ohiewere, 42, were also detained in connection with the drugs. Omorun Theophilus, a police impersonator who parades as a police inspector to transport the drugs from the forests to the cities, and Omorun Theophilus, 37, were also detained.

This is what the NDLEA’s director of communications and advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement that came out on Saturday and was signed by the same person.

The Opuje community in Owan West Local Government Area, Edo State, is well-known for its cannabis cultivation. Here, gangs spend a lot of money, destroying valuable trees in forest reserves and growing cannabis on a vast scale that spans hundreds of hectares.

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After harvest, they construct warehouses inside forest reserves and hire armed youngsters to guard the warehouses around the clock, according to the statement.

“On January 18, hundreds of NDLEA agents trekked for hours to reach the jungle. The next day, they were ambushed with bonfires by armed teenagers as they attempted to flee the neighborhood, but they made it with only the severe financial losses they caused the cartels.

In a similar vein, the Agency busted a criminal organisation that was dealing in phoney US dollars in Lagos on January 19, according to information it obtained from the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States.

“A total of $269,000 in counterfeit US dollars were confiscated from the syndicate at Oniru Shoprite area of Lekki, Lagos, where three suspects were apprehended, during a combined operation carried out by NDLEA operatives alongside their EFCC colleagues,” the statement added.