NDLEA arrests Ekiti NURTW chairman, 3 others for drug trafficking

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has arrested the chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), in Ijero local government area of Ekiti State, Babatunde Babade and two others for trafficking illicit drugs.

The Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement that the two others arrested alongside the 45-year old NURTW chairman are Ilesanmi Shola, 35, and Babajide Johnson, 45.

The transport union leader was caught with 52.5 kilograms 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 2 pm on Sunday 18 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 N60,000 from him, before he later ran into NDLEA officers while on his way back to Ekiti,” Babafemi said.

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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 22.55kgs.

The suspect arrested at about 8 am on Saturday 17 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 NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) 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.

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