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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has warned the Oduma community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State to produce a weapon stolen from its operatives or face legal consequences.
According to the anti-narcotic agency, the pistol was stolen when the youths of the community attacked its operatives who had gone to arrest some suspected drug peddlers.
This is contained in a statement by the agency’s Public Relations Officer, Daniel Obah, on Friday, August 30, 2024.
It all started on Wednesday when no fewer than four men of the NDLEA were injured after being assaulted by some irate youths of the community during an attempt to arrest drug peddlers.
The operational vehicle of the state’s NDLEA command was also vandalised by the youths, who are suspected to be accomplices of the drug peddlers.
According to Obah, the command’s men “went for a routine operation to arrest some drug peddlers when some youths attacked them, resulting in four personnel being critically injured.”
He added that the injured victims were still receiving treatment in hospital, while three other operatives with minor injuries had been discharged.
He explained that the command’s men “went for a routine operation to arrest some drug peddlers when some youths attacked them, resulting in four personnel being critically injured.”
However, the community’s Youth President, Joshua Inebika-Emi countered the NDLEA, insisting that the youths only sought to understand why the accused were arrested without prior notification to the community leaders.
He claimed that four youths were injured and subsequently detained while operatives wheeled them to Yenagoa for treatment in a hospital while denying their relatives access to them.
The Youth President further stated that the community “has, over the years, condemned drug dealers, and there is a law prohibiting the dealing in hard drugs, which is considered unprofessional and barbaric.”
Inebika-Emi called on the NDLEA state commander and the Bayelsa State Government to intervene to prevent a situation where the youths would take the law into their own hands because Oduma represents peace.
But, in a counter statement on Friday, the anti-narcotic agency condemned and described as false and malicious the claims made by the youth leader.
“What the Youth President failed to disclose is that, on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, suspected drug dealers and criminals taking refuge in his community attacked NDLEA officers after the officers had successfully arrested a suspected drug dealer and his sales assistant, and were attempting to leave.
“The irate indigenes of the Oduma community blocked the bridge to the community, overpowered the advance team of officers, seized a pistol, freed the two suspects, took the recovered exhibits, and vandalised the restoration taxi with registration number BYS 060 TR, which was provided to the command by the Bayelsa State Government.
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“They shot and stabbed the NDLEA officers. It was only when they sighted the NDLEA backup tactical team that they began to flee, which prevented further fatalities,” the statement partly read.
“The State Commander of the NDLEA, Bayelsa State, Kanu Chukwuemeka, is using this opportunity to call on the paramount ruler and the entire leadership of the community to produce, within seven days, the pistol taken from the officers, the two male suspects arrested, and the recovered exhibits, or be prepared to face legal action,” it added.
The NDLEA stated that two arrested suspects, Daniel Sokoh and Samson Sokoh, were receiving treatment in the same hospital where its officers are being treated.