Nigeria Police Detain, Grill Inspector After Wife Was Arrested Selling Marijuana Inside Station In Kogi

 

The Nigerian police have ordered an investigation into the alleged clash between their personnel and officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kogi State.

 

SaharaReporters had exclusively reported that NDLEA operatives and officers of the Nigeria Police Force engaged had a scuffle over the arrest of a police inspector’s wife allegedly caught with a bag of cannabis sativa and other illicit drugs.

 

SaharaReporters gathered that the incident happened around 11 a.m. on Monday inside a police station in Lokoja, the state capital.

According to multiple sources, the wife of the police inspector was arrested while distributing marijuana from her husband’s car, an ash-coloured Volkswagen parked inside the station.

 

However, when the NDLEA operatives moved to take her away with the vehicle, some policemen challenged them and it led to a fight.

 

“A police inspector's wife was arrested by NDLEA yesterday inside A division in Kogi. Bags of cannabis sativa, an ash Volkswagen belonging to her husband were recovered. However, her husband’s police colleagues clashed with the NDLEA officers until their boss came in,” a source told SaharaReporters.

 

Another source added, “It happened at A division police post. The husband parked the car in front of his office. His wife was arrested while distributing the cannabis sativa. However, some policemen tried to stop the NDLEA officers from carrying out their lawful duty until the situation was calmed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police heading the division.

 

“The woman and her husband’s car containing the bags of weeds and other illicit drugs were later taken to NDLEA office in Lokoja for further investigation. She has so far admitted to the act. The question is; who were her customers inside a police station?”

 

The NDLEA operatives have in the past arrested police officers for drug crimes in the country.

 

Of note was the arrest of suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, and three others for drug offences. Kyari’s trial is still ongoing.

 

However, the police commissioner in Kogi State, Bethrand Onuoha in a statement issued by the command’s spokesman, Williams Ovye-Aya in Lokoja, on Thursday expressed surprise over the alleged incident.

 

He explained that the clash was avoidable and that both sets of personnel misunderstood each other.

 

The statement reads in part, “It was revealed that the operatives of NDLEA trailed the woman who turned out to be the wife of an Inspector of Police attached to Area Command Lokoja to the car where it was parked in front of Bishop Delisle College opposite the Area Command Office.

 

“The woman was arrested and taken into the NDLEA vehicle with the intention of taking her away. But one of the police personnel on duty at the gate of the area Command Office challenged the NDLEA officials.

 

“But unknown to him, the woman was trailed to the car and equally arrested with a package of substance suspected to be Indian hemp.

 

“Luckily, a senior police officer intervened and brought normalcy while the woman was taken away by the NDLEA operatives without any incident.”

 

“The said police officer (an Inspector) is already in custody. He has been defaulted and an orderly room trial has commenced,” the CP said.

 

The police commissioner reiterated the command’s unwavering commitment to sustaining the synergy between the police and other sister security agencies in the state for optimum results.

 

He advised all personnel of the command, especially the junior ones, to eschew over-zealousness in the course of carrying out their duty to avoid such unwanted infractions.

 

Meanwhile, Kogi NDLEA Commander, Olusegun Adeyeye, who also confirmed the incident noted that the said woman and substance were already in the agency’s custody.

 

“The said suspect and the substance are in our custody. Investigations have commenced to enable the law to take its cause,” he added.