How NDLEA Arrested NURTW Chieftain, Others Over Drug Trafficking

MICHAEL AKINOLA

The Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, in Ijero Local Government area of Ekiti State, Babatunde Babade, 45, has been arrested along with two others; Ilesanmi Shola, 35, and Babajide Johnson, 45, for trafficking illicit drug.

According to Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, 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.

Meanwhile, officers of the Benue state command of the Agency have intercepted 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.

The suspect arrested at about 8am on Saturday 17th July, 2021 in a commercial vehicle, said he is from Nsukka local government area of Enugu State. He however, claimed 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.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), has commended the doggedness of the commanders, officers and men of the Ondo and Benue State Commands of the Agency in the ongoing offensive action against drug barons, traffickers and peddlers.

Marwa charged them along with their colleagues in other Commands to remain resolute in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities.