National Drug Law Enforcement Agency operatives have stormed the Ujiogba Forest Reserve in Esan West LGA, Edo, and destroyed 7,286kg of skunk and five hectares of its plantation.

This was disclosed in a statement by NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi on Thursday.

The operation was carried out on Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s elections, following credible intelligence that some cartels had warehoused hundreds of jumbo bags of the illicit substance inside the thick forest of the reserve for distribution to some states ahead of the general elections.

According to the statement, there was a gunfight between the drug dealers and NDLEA operatives.

“After the initial resistance, two rifles, spent cartridges of short guns and an empty shell of an AK-47 rifle were recovered while a 24-year-old suspect, Calvary Essien, was arrested. After the gunfight, the NDLEA operatives successfully descended on a big warehouse constructed with wood and zinc containing,” it said.

“Hundred jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 3.2 tons; 5,000 bags of cannabis weighing 65 tons; and 137 bags of cannabis seeds weighing 4.66 tons, totalling 72.86 tons,” the NDLEA revealed. “Seven bags of cannabis and one bag of its seeds were subsequently taken out of the warehouse for further investigation and prosecution of suspects while the rest was set ablaze.”

(NAN)