The Akwa Ibom State command of the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested one Okon Bassey in possession of 244 permanent
voter cards (PVCs) in Mbo local government area of the state.
The agency said in a statement that N310, 000 was also recovered from the suspect.
Besides, the agency said it arrested 120 suspected hard drug dealers found to be in possession of 51kg of cannabis, 259gm of heroin, 17gm of cocaine, 500gm of Tramadol Diazepam and Polypro.
The agency said the suspected PVC thief had been handed over to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for further investigation, while others caught with hard drugs had been charged to court.
“Despite the challenges being faced by our officers and men in terms of manpower and logistics, they have performed creditably in clearing political thugs and drug addicts’ hideout within a few days of its sting operation.
“Only last Sunday, four officers and men of the agency were murdered by suspected drug dealers in Ifon, Ondo State while on a search of drugs being transported from Edo State to the Northern part of the country.
“Operatives of the agency in Akwa Ibom State have arrested one Okon Bassey and recovered from him 244 PVCs belonging to different people and a sum of N310, 000. This suspect was arrested at Mbo local government area.
“These suspects were arrested during the pre-election raid by operatives of the NDLEA in order to reduce acts of violence during the elections. The efforts of our eagle eyed-officers also paid off with the arrest of one Joy Adams, a notorious heroin dealer in Akwa Ibom state for allegedly being in possession of 239gm of heroin,” said the agency.
Similarly, security operatives in Edo State apprehended one Mr. Edwin Edosomwan on the Iyekogba axis of Oredo local government area with 2, 000 PVCs.
It was gathered that the cards were purchased from residents in Iyekogba, Oredo Ward 2, as the man, nabbed on Thursday evening, allegedly claimed he was a mobiliser for one of the candidates of the political parties.
Edosomwan was caught in Oredo local council, one of the councils that the Edo Socio-Political Research Group had raised the alarm of a possible plot of ‘systemic rigging.’
Speaking to reporters while being paraded by security operatives, Edosomwan allegedly claimed to be a member of the ‘Operation Show Your Result’ team, a support group for the candidate of one of the political parties vying for the Oredo Federal Constituency seat.
He said he was mandated to get as many PVCs of eligible voters as possible within Oredo Federal Constituency with the aim of buying over their votes.
He added that he bought the PVCs for as low as N5, 000 naira per PVC, noting that he and members of his campaign group had been instructed to deliver their units at all costs.
