By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested the Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the Ijero local government area of Ekiti State, Mr Babatunde Babade, for allegedly trafficking illicit drugs in neighbouring Ondo State.
This was made known in a statement issued on Sunday by the Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, detailing that the transport union leader was apprehended along with two others; Messrs Ilesanmi Shola and Babajide Johnson.
He was caught with 52.5 kilograms of skunk in Akure, the 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.
Mr Babade, popularly called BB, was taken into custody along with the two others soon after his arrest at about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 18, for interrogation.
In his statement, he admitted to owning the vehicle used for conveying the drugs.
He further explained that the car had been intercepted earlier 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 drugs as well as the sum of N60,000 from him, before he later ran into NDLEA officers while on his way back to Ekiti.
Meanwhile, officers of the Benue State Command of the agency have intercepted another suspected interstate drug trafficker, Mr Odinaka Ugwuanyi, along Apir road, Makurdi with 124,000 tablets of Tramadol, Diazepam and Exol-5, all weighing 22.55 kilograms.
The suspect, arrested at about 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 17, in a commercial vehicle, said he was from the Nsukka local government area of Enugu State.
He, however, claimed another passenger who sat next to him in the vehicle dropped the bag containing the drugs with him and fled upon sighting NDLEA officers.
Modupe Gbadeyanka