NDLEA raids textile market in Abia, arrests 4 suspected drug addicts

The Abia State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested four suspected drug addicts in one of the biggest textile markets in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state.

It was gathered that the suspects, Sunny Opai, 27, Obinna Daniel, 38, Ese Emmanuel, 22, and Igwe Agu, 19, were arrested when officers of the agency raided one of the markets (Ahia Ohuru) in the city.

The State Commander of the NDLEA, Bamidele Akingbade, in a statement issued in Aba and made available to our correspondent confirmed the arrests.

Akingbade said the suspects were arrested when personnel of the agency, acting on intelligence on the activities of the drug addicts which was posing great danger to traders and other patrons of the market, raided it.

He said the suspects and others at large were part of the group that regrouped in a section of the market after a successful joint operation in the same market in 2017.

He added that efforts to check sale and smoking of hard and illicit drugs within and around the market were in top gear as the agency had already secured a place near the market to station an outpost that will be manned 24 hour by its personnel.

He also stated that efforts to involve the local government executives and traditional institutions across the 17 local councils of the state in the campaign against the sale and consumption of psychotropic substances would soon commence aggressively.