NDLEA raids ‘illicit drugs party’ in Osun, arrests ‘organisers’

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have raided Berrymist Lounge in Osogbo, the Osun state capital.

According to a statement on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, a night party for illicit substance abuse tagged ‘Unholy Alliance for Stoners and Drunkards’, was going to hold at the location.

Babafemi said the raid followed credible intelligence. He added that the NDLEA operatives swooped on the suspects, arrested them and recovered illicit substances and drug paraphernalia from them.

He said the agency also arrested some of the organisers.

Those arrested include Ikotu Omolayo, 25; Fola Olabode, 30; and Akorede Adunni Ajibola, 22.

The management of the lounge has also been invited for further investigation.

The agency said it has also arrested 30-year-old Gbemileke Adelola, the alleged main organiser of the party.

The statement said in a separate operation, the NDLEA on Friday, arrested Adamu Ibrahim and Nura Sani at Ileke trailer garage, along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, where 859 kilograms of cannabis sativa were found concealed among bags of sugar in a truck, for onward transportation to Mokwa, Niger state.

“The consignment was loaded in Ogbese, Ondo state and hidden among bags of cement in a truck before being transloaded into another trailer bearing sugar in Ogun state,” the statement reads.

“In Edo state, operatives on Monday 20th Nov. stormed a warehouse at Obi Camp in Owan West LGA where they recovered 338kgs of cannabis concealed in sacks of charcoal, while in another operation in Ikhin forest, Owan East LGA, NDLEA officers seized 235kgs of the same psychoactive substance on Saturday 25th Nov.

“A suspect, Onah Kenneth Ikechukwu, 32, was arrested at Jattu, Etsako West LGA with 11,690 capsules of tramadol, 295 bottles of codeine syrup and various quantities of Molly, Cannabis and Methamphetamine on Wednesday 22nd Nov.

“A similar raid in Lagos on Wednesday 22nd Nov. at Enu Owa Street, Lagos Island led to the recovery of 40,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 440,000 pills of tramadol in a store belonging to a suspect, Ebuka Amechi who is currently at large.

“Not less than 135,600 capsules of tramadol and 950grams of cannabis were seized from two suspects: Afamefuna Ibekwe, 37, and Sunday Onweh, 41, at Nkpor, Akuzor and Ose-Ogbaijo, Onitsha, respectively.”

The statement added that Mohamed Buba Marwa, chairman of the NDLEA, commended the officers for the arrests and seizures, and charged them and their compatriots across all formations of the agency “to continue to remain vigilant and double their efforts, especially with the desperation of criminal networks to make money by all means as the yuletide season approaches”.