In the Opuje village in the Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, armed thugs launched an attack that was repulsed by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency agents.
The thugs reportedly blocked all access roads to the village in an attempt to prevent NDLEA agents from reaching the forest warehouses.
These storage facilities are purportedly home to a sizable amount of processed psychoactive drugs meant for distribution around the country ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
This was said in a statement sent to PUNCH Online on Thursday by Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy.
According to Babafemi, some of the operation’s cars were rigged with bullets, and three of the cops were hurt in the assault, one of them receiving a gunshot wound to the head.
He said, “The critically injured officer underwent a major surgery on Wednesday, December 6, to remove the bullets in his brain, while the other officers were rushed to the hospital for treatment.”
He added that on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, NDLEA agents assaulted the town to burn warehouses and tents housing over 317,417 kilos (317.4 metric tons) of cannabis sativa. Less than 11 months had passed since armed youths hired by drug lords ambushed the cops.
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 cartels had restocked their warehouses in the forest.
Last Saturday, several of the warehouses in Esan West LGA’s Ujiogba Forest, which held around 6,000 kg of cannabis, were demolished.
However, the armed thugs had blocked all access roads in the village, so when the NDLEA teams entered the Opuje woodland in the early hours of Monday, December 4, they were attacked with gunfire.
After more than two hours of gunfire between the armed thugs and the NDLEA agents, they were allowed to leave the area.
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.
