A notorious drug dealer, Micha Godwin, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. NDLEA, at Nukai Market, along the Jalingo-Wukari Road, Jalingo, Taraba State.
The NDLEA spokesperson , Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday said during the incident, the anti-narcotic officers came under attack and at least seven of them were injured and one of their vehicles damaged.
“Despite the attack, the officers managed to arrest their target after recovering some quantities of illicit drugs from the suspect and thereafter retreated to take the wounded to the hospital for treatment,” Babafemi said.
He added, “Following intelligence, the operatives, on Tuesday, March 8, stormed the market around 2.30pm to arrest the drug dealer and evacuate illicit substances in his warehouse. Soon after the arrest of Micha, miscreants mobilised from the community to attack the officers and vehicles with weapons.
“Reinforcement from the state command of the agency and other security agencies was able to move in to rescue the operatives from the scene of the attack.”
The drug dealer was quoted to have denied sponsoring the attack.
“What happened today is bad because this is the second time I have been arrested and brought here, but the first arrest was not like this. I don’t know who invited the boys who attacked the NDLEA officers,” he said.
The Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Marwa (retd.), condemned the attack and directed immediate switch to new operational guidelines that would make officers and men well-positioned to defend themselves in the course of carrying out their duties.