Ahead of the 2023 general elections on Saturday, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) stormed Ujiogba Forest Reserve in Esan West LGA of Edo State where they destroyed 7,286kg of Indian hemp and five hectares of its plantation.
The operation carried out on Wednesday, February 22, followed credible intelligence that cartels had warehoused hundreds of bags of the illicit substance inside the forest for distribution to some states.
Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi, on Thursday, said the operation was carried out after several roadblocks set up by armed guards of the drug lords were cleared and they were overpowered by the superior firepower of the agency.
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He said, “After the initial resistance, two rifles, spent cartridges of short guns and an empty shell of A-K47 rifle were recovered, while a 24-year-old suspect, Calvary Essien, was arrested.
“After the gun fight, the NDLEA operatives descended on a big warehouse constructed with wood and zinc containing 100 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 3.2 tonnes; 5,000 bags of cannabis weighing 65 tonnes; and 137 bags of cannabis seeds weighing 4.66 tonnes, totalling 72.86 tonnes.”
He also said that seven bags of cannabis and one bag of its seeds were subsequently taken out of the warehouse for further investigation and prosecution of suspects while the rest was set ablaze.
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