The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Tuesday impounded six vehicles containing 1,687 kilogrammes of Cannabis sativa in Edo State.
The State Commander of NDLEA, Buba Wakawa, said the vehicles were impounded at Agenebode in Etsako West local government of Edo state.
He said the operation which based on intelligence report was carried out by the Auchi Area Command of the agency.
He added that the estimated street value of the seized drugs is N25m while that of the six vehicles is N10m, bringing the total losses suffered by the cartel to N35 million.
Wakawa said the drivers of the vehicles escaped, leaving behind their vehicles and drugs.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the cartel targeted the emergency created by the Coronavirus epidemic for a massive shipment of drugs but the command swiftly nipped their nefarious plan in the bud.
“Edo State is notorious for the cultivation of Cannabis; therefore as drug control managers, we have adopted both primary and secondary strategies to check this criminal act. We do this by tracing and destroying cannabis farms as well as intercepting harvested and processed Cannabis before it gets to the final consumers,” he said.
Wakawa added that the drugs and the vehicles would be forfeited to the federal government, noting that Section 32 sub-section (C) of the NDLEA Act on asset forfeiture states that all seized items shall be forfeited.
“The law also recognizes the seizure of drugs and forfeiture of assets as forms of punishment aimed at incapacitating drug trafficking syndicates financially,” he said.
He, however, lamented the challenge of operational vehicles confronting the command and appealed to the State Governor, Me. Godwin Obaseki to assist the command with utility vehicles in order to broaden the scope of operations.
