SituationREPORT –
Officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA have been attacked by a mob during a drug bust in Lemna area of Cross River State, with three persons arrested and exhibits including methamphetamine popularly known as Ice and synthetic cannabinoids also called Colorado recovered.
Assistant Commander of Narcotics, Cross River State Command, Kabiru Abdullahi, disclosed this during an interactive session with newsmen on Tuesday, October 27, in Calabar.
Abdullahi said the incident occurred on Monday at about 14:00 hours when he led a team on motorized patrol within Lemna, northwest axis of the state.
He said trouble started when the team conducting stop-and-search flagged down a motorcycle conveying three persons — one male and two females — and recovered a whitish substance suspected to be methamphetamine.
“We identified ourselves to them. And one of the female officers asked for searching of their bags. And they tried to resist, but we insisted we must search that bag. In the process of searching, a whitish nylon bag was recovered. When we opened it, it is a whitish substance suspected to be methamphetamine,” he said.
Shortly after the recovery, three persons arrived at the scene shouting and inciting a crowd against the operatives.
“Before we realized, three persons stormed the area and shouted stop there. Shouting, what is happening here? They insisted, ‘We will not allow you to go with these people.’ Those three persons were the ones who caused the crowd to attack us,” the Commander recounted.
According to him, the crowd mobilized with sticks, stones, and wood, dragging and slapping officers and freeing the initial suspects.
“They dragged my driver. They were dragging him, slapping. One carried a wood. Gave another officer dirty slaps. Another one, stones. That one is in the hospital now. We were in uniform. We identified ourselves, telling them that we were NDLEA officials. Yesterday, all of us could have been history,” he said.
Abdullahi said reinforcement from the Command saved the team from being lynched, adding that the three persons who instigated the attack were later arrested while two grammes of methamphetamine, popularly known as Ice, and one gramme of synthetic cannabis, Colorado, were seized as exhibits.
He said investigation is ongoing while the suspects will be charged to court.
(TheGuardian)