Tough time awaits drug barons and traffickers as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has vowed to smoke them out of their hideouts.
NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig.- Gen. Buba Marwa, issued the warning at the weekend.
Also, the Ondo State Command of the anti-drug agency said it confiscated 664, 148 kilogrammes of hard drugs last month.
Marwa, a former Lagos State military administrator, who was reacting to the arrest of seven drug barons in Ukpuje Forest, Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, said no baron or trafficker caught would escape prosecution.
The suspects are Emmanuel Oki, 62 who is the chairman of the vigilante group in Ukpuje; Chief Odi Sabato, 42; Bright Edegbe, 53; Gowon Ehimigbai, 53; Enodi Ode, 37; Ayo Oni, 30 and Akhime Benjamin, 43.
They were nabbed with 16, 344 bags of cannabis and seeds; two pump action rifles and one double-barrel gun. The estimated street value of the seized cannabis and seeds was put at over N1.4 billion.
Marwa, who took over the headship of NDLEA last January 18, hailed the Edo State Command of the agency and the Army for ensuring the success of the operation. He assured that such an offensive would be sustained across the country.
He said: “I remember I made it clear in my inaugural remarks January 18, while sounding a note of warning to those involved in this illicit trade to either back out or have the NDLEA to contend with because our maxim must and will remain offensive action; to smoke the drug barons and traffickers out of their holes, forests and bunkers.
“The heat is on and we’ll continue to increase the furnace until we smoke them out of their hiding places to face the law.”
The new NDLEA boss said in spite of the recent seizures of cocaine and heroin at Murtala Muhammed and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airports in Lagos and Abuja respectively as well as cannabis and others in Nasarawa and Katsina states, his operatives would continue to expand their dragnets until the war against illicit drugs is won.
The Ondo State NDLEA command says it confiscated 18,600.242 kilogrammes of hard drugs between January 2020 and January 2021.
The command however, said it was constrained by lack of funds and other logistics to tackle drug cultivation and trafficking in the state.
It disclosed that 348 suspects comprising of 316 males and 33 females were arrested in the period under review.
The state Commander of the agency, Haruna Gagara, told journalists in Akure that 47 drug dealers were convicted while 107 cases were pending.
Gagara explained that out of the seized 18,600.242 kilogrammes of hard drugs, 18,319.889 were cannabis Sativa; 0.1grams cocaine; 237.990 ‘schuchies’ (cannabis sativa, tramadol, codeine, Rohypnol and ethanal mixed with black currant juice); 19.446 of psychotropic substances; and 887grams of choco-milo(a mixture of Milo beverage and cannabis sativa).
He said the command destroyed 376.215 hectares of cannabis Sativa plantations and seized 14 vehicles.
Gagara urged the public to always report cases of hard drugs peddling and cultivation.

By By Nicholas Kalu, Abuja and Osagie Otabor