Operatives of Edo State Command of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested 30 suspected drug lords for allegedly engaging in drugs related offences.
  
The state’s assistant commander in charge of operations, Ondotimi Bebetu, who disclosed this, yesterday, said the suspects were arrested during raids of different illegal drug and drinking joints in the state.
  
He said the raids were a fall out of the state’s security meeting on July 21, where the state government expressed dismay over the spate of cult related killings in the state, which is linked to the influence of drugs.
 
Bebetu, who gave a breakdown of the suspects as 15 males and 15 females, accused the suspects of being suspiciously linked to the spike in drug abuse in the state.
  
He said: “The raid was a fall out of the state security meeting we had on July 21. Various issues were discussed, but the trending issue was cultism in the state.
 
“The government is disturbed that these cultists are killing themselves and causing mayhem to disrupt the peace of the society.
 
“So, at the end of the day, it was discovered that suspiciously they are under the influence of hard drugs. The government now decided that the state security outfits, the sister agencies should join hands together and mop up the society of this drug use.”
 
The assistant commander said the effect of the exercise, which lasted between Monday, July 24 and Tuesday, July 25, resulted in the arrest of the suspects with the exhibits.