NDLEA arrest three suspected illicit drug dealers in Abia State

The Abia State Command of the National Draw Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has paraded three persons for allegedly dealing on illicit and other hard drugs.

The suspects, Ajah James, 62 years and Benjamin Utah; indigenes of Achara, Ihechiowa, Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State and Eze Edeh, 22 years old, from Akpoha community, Ebonyi State were arrested in Arochukwu and Umuahia, the state capital respectively.

The NDLEA State Commander, Bamidele Akingbade in an interview with our correspondent in Aba disclosed that the suspects were arrested through intelligence reports.

According to Akingbade, the agency would not renege in its promise of nipping the sale and consumption of illicit drugs on the board.

The NDLEA boss used the opportunity to raise the alarm of the activities of drug dealers who use various primary and secondary school buildings as their bunk now that the state is on lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In separate interviews, Benjamin Utah and Eze Edeh admitted trading on the illegal and illicit drugs, but Ajah James however, denied planting the marijuana behind his house.

According to Ajah, “I was at my house around 4 am on Sunday that NDLEA stormed their area, someone came and woke him up, that NDLEA was in their compound looking for him.

“I told them that I wasn’t the owner of the farm. They asked me if I do smoke, I told them yes, that I smoke (marijuana), they asked me to enter their car. That was how they brought me here (NDLEA Headquarters).

“The Marijuana farm is behind my yard, but I wasn’t the one that planted them.”

He claimed that his arrest was a setup over some political issues in his village. This is as he claimed that he noticed the marijuana behind their compound in March during the burial of his late brother.

“I am begging for leniency. My wife is dead, my mother and father are dead. Two of my children are in Cross River State because I couldn’t take care of them.”

“They arrested me with Thailand and Heroine. This is the only business that I can do because I don’t want to go and steal. I have been in the business since 2013,” Edeh said

Utah on his own part claimed that he was forced into the business after he was duped in Lagos of a huge sum of money, leading to the collapse of his business.