Security: FCTA Raids Illicit Drug Colony in Asokoro

By: Wisdom Acka

A thriving illicit drug colony in the highbrow Asokoro District of the Federal Capital City, Abuja has been raided over the weekend.

Different kinds of drugs forbidden by law, such as wraps of indian hemp and packets of tramadol, among others, were recovered during the exercise.

The team also dislodged notorious spots with security threats, environmental and sundry nuisances, ranging from refuse littering, illegal markets, auto mechanic workshops and illegal motor parks around popular AYA interchange and surroundings.

Composed of personnel drawn from the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), accompanied by a combined team of security personnel, the taskforce also conducted clean up operations around the Court of Appeal junction, through the Federal Secretariat complex, Eagle Square and the Nicon Junction axis of Shehu Shagari Way.

Secretary, FCTA Command and Control, Olumuji Peter, while explaining the exercise, said it was in continuation of the FCT Administration’s determination in ensuring that the city was kept clean and safe for every resident.

Olumuji warned those with criminal tendencies in the FCT to change or return to wherever they were coming from because the city would not be conducive for them.

His words: “We have been able to dislodge where they normally reside, and that is a good development to those traversing the place, especially in the nighttime”.

“We had gotten reports that people are being attacked whenever they are traversing this environment. But with the action that we have taken now, such criminal activities here will be reduced to the barest minimum, which we hope to sustain,” he said.

Peter, however, stated: “For now, we were not able to make any arrest, because when we entered there, most of them had escaped but they won’t be lucky another time”.

Corroborating, Deputy Director, Monitoring and Enforcement, AEPB, Kaka Bello, noted that the effort was to see that the city is clean and safe for the inhabitants.

According to him, “AYA is one of the notorious places where we encounter a lot of challenges whenever we come for such cleaning exercise, given the rate of nuisance here, which have been abated. And the illicit drug related offences that were apprehended by the NDLEA officers.”

“They are all interwoven, and we are working together with other agencies to make sure that we abate such nuisances. And it is a daily thing, which we would continue to do, as the city must be clean on a daily basis,” the Deputy Director asserted.

On her part, Deputy Director, Operations, DRTS, Deborah Osho, disclosed that about eleven vehicles were impounded, taken from illegal parks and mechanic workshops, with seven tricycles confiscated for alleged route violation.

She stressed that DRTS was poised to ensuring vehicular and traffic sanity in Abuja.