-by our correspondent
Officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested the Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Babatunde Babade, in Ijero local government area of Ekiti state.
A statement signed by the Director, Media & Advocacy NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday said Babade was arrested alongside two others; Ilesanmi Shola and Babajide Johnson,for trafficking illicit drug.
According to the statement, the transport union leader was caught with 52.5kilograms of ‘skunk’ in Akure, the Ondo state capital following intelligence that he was conveying bags of the banned drug in his 1997 model blue Mazda car with registration number from Akure to Ekiti state.
“Babade, popularly called BB, was taken into custody along with others soon after his arrest at about 2pm on Sunday 18th July, 2021 for interrogation. In his statement, he admitted he owns the vehicle used for conveying the drug. He further said the car was earlier intercepted by some security agents who detained the other two suspects, his car and eight bags containing cannabis sativa while his brother who drove the vehicle fled.” The statement read.
In a related case, officers of the Benue State Command of the agency have reported the interception of another suspected interstate drug trafficker, 29-year-old Odinaka Ugwuanyi along Apir road, Makurdi with 124,000 tablets of Tramadol, Diazepam and Exol-5, all weighing 22.55 kilograms.
According to the report, one of the suspects arrested at about 8am on Saturday 17th July, 2021 in a commercial vehicle, claimed that another passenger he knows who sat next to him in the vehicle dropped the bag containing the drugs with him and fled upon sighting NDLEA officers.
Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the doggedness of the commanders, officers and men of the Ondo and Benue state Commands of the Agency in the ongoing offensive against drug barons, traffickers and peddlers.
He charged them along with their colleagues in other commands to remain resolute in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities.
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