Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti

Operatives of the State Criminal Investigative Department (SCID) attached to the Ekiti State Police Command, at the weekend confirmed that it has seized 40 bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp. 

The command also confirmed that during the operation which lasted several hours in Ikere/Ijare forest, the officers arrested three persons in connection with the crime.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, Mr Sunday Abutu, the Command operatives, while acting on a credible information with a view to flushing out criminal elements hiding inside Ikere/Ijare forests, discovered a cultivation of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp.

Abutu explained that apart from the discovery of the weed plantation, a search operation was also conducted on the farm where three suspects, Alfred Macaulay, Promise Odogwu and Chukwuemeka Bright were arrested.

Spokesperson for the command, explained that during the operation, forty bags containing weeds packaged and concealed in sack bags suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered from the suspects.

He explained that the suspects who are currently undergoing interrogations at the headquarters of the command located along Iyin-Ekiti road Ado-Ekiti would soon be handed over to the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), for proper prosecution.

Abutu assured that other members of the gang who escaped from the farm would soon be arrested by the police.

Similarly, the police also confirmed the arrest of three persons who are students of Federal University Oye-Ekiti, FUOYE, in connection with the case of cultism.

The PPRO said shortly before the suspects were arrested, the command had received a distress call on the fateful day that a gang of suspected cultists were having their meeting and initiation inside a building in Oye-Ekiti.

He added that upon the receipt of the information, the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) operatives carried out a raid operation where three suspects, Seun Igbayilola, Esan Emmanuel and Idowu Adebayo were arrested.

The police said investigation revealed that the suspects were illicit drugs peddlers and have been on the wanted list of the police for sometime.

Abutu added that when a search operation was conducted in their houses, large quantity of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp and other illicit drugs were recovered from them.

Also during interrogation, the suspects confessed to be traders of illicit drugs and gave the identities of other suspects who are currently at large.