Officials of the Abia State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have reportedly destroyed a bunk at Ngwa road axis of the commercial nerve of the state which serves as a base for the consumption and sale of illegal drugs.
Information has it that the bunk also serve as a converging point for criminals operating in Aba South and other parts of the state, a situation many residents have attributed to the cause of various crimes including rape, armed robbery, bag snatching and dispossession of market women of their cash and other valuables
The operation was led by the state commander of the federal government’s drug law agency, Mr. Bamidele Akingbade.
The Chief Press Secretary of the State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpezu; Mr. Onyebuchi Ememanka in a statement on Thursday said that the governor of the state was happy with the NDLEA for successfully combating a gang of criminals and illegal drug peddlers around the Ngwa Road by Mosque Street area, especially within the premises of College Primary School.
According to Ememanka, following repeated complaints by the members of the public over the activities of some criminals around that area ranging from sexual assaults, sale, and use of illicit drugs, snatching of bags and armed robberies, the Governor challenged security agencies, especially the NDLEA to move into the area and take all lawful and necessary steps to rid the place of the criminal elements.
The State Command of the NDLEA conducted a successful operation there yesterday, leading to the arrest of four of the suspected criminals, seizure of some illicit substances and destruction of the hideout used by the criminals as a haven for their operations.
“Governor Okezie Ikpeazu salutes the gallantry of the officers of the State Command of the NDLEA led by the State Commander, Mr. Akingbade Bamidele and urged them to sustain the tempo and ensure that illicit drug peddlers are chased away from all corners of the State.”
The CPS further stated that the Governor decried the increasing abuse of illicit drugs by some people in the State and warned that his administration shall be very relentless in the war against hard and illicit drugs in the State.
He charged the NDLEA to ensure that the arrested suspects are charged to court immediately and made to face the full wrath of the law.
Governor Ikpeazu also directed the Deputy General Manager of ASEPA, Aba Zone to, as a matter of urgency, mobilize his men and equipment into that area ensure that a thorough cleaning exercise is carried out there while the State Government will take further steps to help make the area uncomfortable for criminals to operate.
