14th September, 2014
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kogi on Saturday destroyed four cannabis sativa (Indian hemp) plantations totalling 35 acres at different locations in Ogori-Magongo Local Government Area.
NAN reports that the destruction which started by 7:05 a.m. lasted till 6 p.m. The operation took officers and men of the agency, the police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to Ososo Mountain top on the Kogi and Edo states’ borders, among other forests.
The NDLEA Commander, Alhaji Idris Bello, briefed newsmen at the end of the operation in Overe forest, about five kilometre trek from the road and one of the plantations’ sites.
Bello said that the operation marked the sixth in the last two years and was one of the command’s outstanding breakthroughs in the war against illicit drug cultivation.
He said that the operation was meant to destroy by burning, the illicit weeds, render them useless and to curtail its circulation.
The commander said that the agency had carried out similar operations in Isanlu, Ife-Olukotun, Igalamela, Ibaji and Omala, all in Kogi.
The farms were destroyed following intelligence reports processed through months of surveillance.
Bello said that one Isaac Bello, 28, his aged father, Orovo, and junior brother, Moses, were arrested on 7 September in connection with the plantations.
He said that the suspect would be taken to court on completion of due investigations.
The suspect, however, told journalists that he is a yam, cassava and cocoyam farmer and also a hunter but not the owner of the cannabis farms.
He said that the cannabis farms belonged to Karomi and Kobad who were also hunters.
He said Karomi and Kobad asked him to tend the farms, promising to sell the land to him after harvesting the cannabis.
He said he was surprised that the officers of the agency chose to arrest him.
The agency’s men, he said, stormed his house and arrested him along with his father and his sibling, who were on a visit.
Ghazali Isogogo, Okene Area Commander of the agency, however, dismissed Bello’s story.
He said when he and two of his men visited the farm in disguise, the suspect and his cohorts attempted to shoot them before they managed to escape.
“For us in the NDLEA, we will do all we can to frustrate the efforts of all cannabis growers wherever they may be, no matter how remote and they shall be made to face the full wrath of the law,” Isogogo said.
The area commander observed that most crimes were often perpetrated under the influence of drugs and psychotropic substances.
He solicited support of the state government, non-governmental organisations, traditional rulers and public spirited individuals in ridding the state of illicit drugs.