The drug exhibits were evacuated from the warehouse
by a team of over 70 officers. The operatives evacuated 34 bags of compressed
cannabis weighing 680kg and 94 bags of dried weeds weighing 1,316kg with a
total weight of 1,996kg.
Two suspected members of the drug cartel working at
the warehouse were also apprehended. The estimated street value of the drug is N20million.
According to the state commander Mr Wakawa Buba, who
described the seizure as a great way to start the year, said that the warehouse
was discovered based on intelligence report.
Buba said: "Working on intelligence gathering,
we successfully traced a major cannabis warehouse located in Ugbubezi forest in
Owan West Local Government Area. Two suspected members of the drug cartel were
also arrested and currently being interrogated. We dispossessed the cartel of
drugs valued N20m. The achievement is a good takeoff for the year and a major
boost for the 2018 operational year. We are poised for a total offensive
against drug trafficking cartels in the State.”
The Commander has equally spread his dragnet to
apprehend other members of the cannabis cartel warning that there was no safe
haven for drug trafficking in Edo State.
The suspects who claimed to be farmers in their
statements blamed their involvement in drug trafficking on poverty.
One of the suspects, Augustine Egwutu, 45, married
with three children, said that he used to cultivate plantain and pepper, but
wildfire engulfed his farm and he lost everything.
Egwutu said: "I could not feed my family and my
landlord threatened to evict me for not being able to pay my rent. This was the
reason that made me go into cannabis business.”
His partner in crime, Gabriel Orji, 38, who
cultivates cassava and plantain, told investigators that he joined the cannabis
business because he needed multiple sources of income.
According to the NDLEA Act, the suspects risk a
minimum of fifteen years imprisonment for unlawful possession of
cannabis.
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