Drugs sale: Policeman, wife arrested as CP probes NDLEA, police clash

The Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Bethrand Onuoha, has ordered an investigation into the clash between the police officers and the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in the state.

The Star had reported that the clash broke out between the NDLEA operatives and police officers after the anti-narcotics officials tried to arrest a Police Inspector’s wife for allegedly selling cannabis.

It was gathered that the Inspector’s wife was caught with a bag of Cannabis Sativa and other illicit drugs at the A Division of Police Station in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.

However, the police commissioner, in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Command’s spokesman, SP Williams Ovye-Aya, condemned the incident, noting that the clash was avoidable since both personnel misunderstood themselves.

Onuoh, however, disclosed that the Police Inspector had been arrested.

He stated: “It was revealed that the operatives of NDLEA trailed the woman who turned out to be the wife of an Inspector of Police attached to Area Command Lokoja to the car where it was parked in front of Bishop Delisle College opposite the Area Command Office.

“The woman was arrested and taken into the NDLEA vehicle with the intention of taking her away. But one of the police personnel on duty at the gate of the area Command Office challenged the NDLEA officials.

“But unknown to him, the woman was trailed to the car and equally arrested with a package of substance suspected to be Indian hemp.

“Luckily, a senior police officer intervened and brought normalcy while the woman was taken away by the NDLEA operatives without any incident.

“The said police officer (an Inspector) is already in custody. He has been defaulted and orderly room trial has commenced,” the CP said.

The police commissioner reiterated the Command’s commitment to sustaining the level of synergy between the police and other sister security agencies in Kogi State for optimum results.

He, however, advised all personnel of the Command, especially the junior ones to eschew over-zealousness in the course of their duty to avoid such unwanted infraction.

Also speaking on the incident, the Kogi NDLEA Commander, Olusegun Adeyeye, said the woman and the substance were already in the agency’s custody.

“The said suspect and the substance are in our custody. Investigations have commenced to enable the law to take its cause,” Adeyeye said.

The Star