Alleged drug trafficking: Ekiti NURTW chair arrested in Ondo
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency says it has arrested the chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers in Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Babatunde Babade, 45, over alleged drug trafficking.
The NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja.
He said that Babade was arrested along with two others – Ilesanmi Shola, 35, and Babajide Johnson, 45.
Babafemi said that the NURTW chairman was caught with 52.5 kilogrammes of skunk in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
The NDLEA spokesman said that the suspect was arrested following intelligence that he was conveying bags of the banned drug in his 1997 model Mazda car with registration number: Ekiti JER194 AE from Akure to Ekiti state.
Babafemi said that Babade, popularly called BB, was taken into custody along with others soon after his arrest at about 2pm on Sunday, July 18 for interrogation.
According to Babafemi, the NURTW chairman admitted ownership of 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.
“He also said that they collected 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,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, officers of the NDLEA command in Benue say they have also intercepted another suspected interstate drug trafficker, 29-year-old Odinaka Ugwuanyi along Apir road, Makurdi.
Babafemi said that he was arrested with 124,000 tablets of Tramadol, Diazepam and Exol-5, all weighing 22.55 kilogrammes.
He said that the suspect, arrested at about 8am on Saturday, July 17, 2021 in a commercial vehicle, said he was from Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu state.
“He, however, claimed that another passenger who sat next to him in the vehicle dropped the bag containing the drugs with him and fled upon sighting NDLEA officers,” Babafemi said.
The chairman, NDLEA, retired, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, has commended the doggedness of the commanders, officers and men of the command in Ondo and Benue states on the ongoing offensive 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. Punch
