Ekiti NURTW chairman, 3 others arrested for drug trafficking

Etim Ekpimah

The chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State, Babatunde Babade, 45, has been arrested along with two others: Ilesanmi Shola, 35, and Babajide Johnson, 45, for trafficking illicit drug.

The transport union leader was caught with 52.5 kilograms of skunk in Akure, the Ondo State capital following intelligence that he was conveying bags of the banned drug in his 1997 model blue Mazda car with number plate Ekiti JER194 AE from Akure to Ekiti State.

This was contained in a statement, which was made available to journalists on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.

Babade, popularly called BB, was taken into custody along with the others soon after his arrest around 2pm on Sunday July 18, 2021, for interrogation.

In his statement, he admitted he owns 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 after taking 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.

Meanwhile, officers of the Benue State Command of the agency have intercepted another suspected interstate drug trafficker, 29-year-old Odinaka Ugwuanyi along Apir Road, Makurdi with 124,000 tablets of Tramadol, Diazepam and Exol-5, all weighing 22.55 kilograms.

The suspect who was arrested around 8am on Saturday July 17, 2021 in a commercial vehicle, said he is from Nsukka local government area of Enugu state.

He, however, claimed another passenger he knows who sat next to him in the seat of the vehicle dropped the bag containing the drugs with him and fled upon sighting NDLEA officers.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has commended the doggedness of the commanders, officers and men of the Ondo and Benue state commands of the agency in the ongoing offensive action against drug barons, traffickers, and peddlers. He charged them along with their colleagues in other commands to remain resolute in the discharge of their constitutional responsibilities.