NDLEA’s Ondo State command, led by Commander Haruna Gagara, launched Operation Thunder Strike IV with a joint task force drawn from the agency’s Oyo, Ekiti, Edo, Ondo and Osun commands and the Nigerian Army.[1] The task force raided six camps in towns and villages on the Edo–Ondo boundary, starting with Uzebba and Ihkin in Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, and also entered Ajobieye forest in Ute, Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State, in an operation lasting about eight hours.[1][2]
Seizures and farm destruction
The operation seized and burned more than 14.3 tonnes of cannabis, including 1,225 bags of Cannabis Sativa; another 174.5 kilograms and fresh plant samples were kept for prosecution.[1][2] Officers also destroyed several cannabis nurseries and transplant farms on the spot and recovered eight locally made guns, six rounds of ammunition and cannabis-compressing machines.[1][2]
Four arrests
Gagara said the team arrested four drug merchants, including Ohimai Ayodele, 51, of Uzebba, whom the agency described as a notorious cannabis merchant suspected of masterminding the killing of NDLEA personnel earlier in the year.[1] Officers also arrested a 66-year-old cannabis farmer in a deserted locality on the Edo–Ondo border.[1] FOW 24 named the second person arrested as Ojeagbese Asabiya.[2] Ayodele’s men opened fire to resist his arrest, injuring seven NDLEA personnel who were hospitalised.[1] The command said the suspects would be prosecuted once investigations concluded.[2]
