Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested the Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti state, Babatunde Babade, for drug trafficking.
Babade, 45, was arrested alongside two others, Ilesanmi Shola, 35, and Babajide Johnson, 45.
In a statement by the Director of Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, the transport union leader was caught with 52.5 kilo of skunk in Akure, the Ondo State capital, while transporting the substance to Ekiti.
”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: Ekiti JER194 AE 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 stated that the car was earlier intercepted by some security agents who detained the two other suspects, his car and eight bags containing cannabis sativa while his brother who drove the vehicle fled.
”He however claimed that following his intervention, the security agents released the suspects and his car to him after taking two of the eight bags containing the drug and sixty thousand naira (N60, 000) from him, before he later ran into NDLEA officers while on his way back to Ekiti,” the statement said.
On the arrest of another suspect, the statement said officers of the Benue State Command of the agency apprehended the interstate drug trafficker, 29-year-old Odinaka Ugwuanyi, along Apir Road, Makurdi, the Benue State capital, at about 8am last Saturday with 124,000 tablets of Tramadol, Diazepam and Exol-5, all weighing 22.55 kilograms.
Ogwuanyi, who was in a commercial vehicle at the time of his arrest, hailed from from Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The suspect however said another passenger he knew, who sat next to him in the vehicle, dropped the bag containing the drugs with him and fled upon sighting NDLEA officers.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), has commended commanders, officers and men of the Ondo and Benue state Commands for diligence in the ”ongoing offensive action against drug barons, traffickers and peddlers”.