Hoodlums open fire on NDLEA operatives in Edo, three officers injured
In Opuje, a community in Edo State's Owan West Local Government Area, armed thugs launched an attack, which National Drug Law Enforcement Agency agents successfully repelled.
In an attempt to prevent NDLEA agents from reaching forest warehouses, the thugs reportedly blocked all roads that led to the community.
In anticipation of the approaching Christmas and New Year season, these warehouses are purportedly home to a sizable amount of processed psychoactive substances meant for distribution across the country.
Femi Babafemi, the Director of Media and Advocacy for the NDLEA, provided a statement on Thursday that included this information.
According to Babafemi, several of the operation's vehicles were rigged with bullets, and three of the officers were hurt in the assault, one of them receiving a gunshot wound to the head.
"On Wednesday, December 6, the critically injured officer underwent a major surgery to remove the bullets from his brain," he said, adding that the other officers were taken to the hospital for treatment.
He claimed that this occurred just 11 months after on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, armed youths enlisted by drug barons ambushed NDLEA officers storming the community to destroy warehouses and tents holding over 317,417 kilogrammes (317.4 metric tonnes) of cannabis sativa.
Teams of NDLEA officers were dispatched into the Edo forests to destroy the drug cartels' warehouses and prevent the psychoactive substance from being distributed to different parts of the country before the holiday season. This action was taken in response to reliable intelligence that the cartels had restocked their warehouses in the forest. Last weekend, some of the warehouses in Esan West LGA's Ujiogba Forest, which held roughly 6,000 kg of cannabis, were demolished.
However, the armed thugs had blocked all access roads in the community, so when the NDLEA teams approached the Opuje forest in the early hours of Monday, December 4, they were attacked with gunfire. After more than two hours, the NDLEA agents were allowed to leave the area.
