The Edo State command of Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) destroyed two cannabis farms in Upokhoten forest near Uzzebba village in Owan West Local Government Area on 28 July 2023, cutting the plantations and setting them ablaze after a three-hour trek to the site.[1]
Assistant Commander Ondotimi Bebetu said the destruction followed intelligence-led surveillance that had led to the arrest of three suspects two weeks earlier.[1] He put the first farm at 6.28 hectares, equal to about 15.69 tonnes of cannabis, and the second at 0.68 hectares, equal to 1.7 tonnes, totalling 17.4 tonnes destroyed.[1] Daily Trust’s account of the same operation gives the same measurements, totalling 6.96 hectares and more than 17 tonnes.[2]
Bebetu said the real owners were big-time barons who hired local boys to establish the farms, and that the arrested suspects would be handed to the agency’s legal unit to advise on prosecution.[1] One of those arrested on the farm, Monday Nduul from Benue State, said he had been brought in as a labourer to weed and had not known it was a cannabis farm.[1] Assistant Commander James Olarewaju said Edo had become a spotlight for year-round cannabis plantations and the command was determined to cut the supply chain through farm destruction.[1]
