3 NDLEA officers sustain gunshot injuries during raid in Abuja

Three officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have been hospitalised with gunshot injuries sustained after coming under attack by armed men during a raid operation in the Jahi area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Thursday night.

This was made known in a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.

Babafemi disclosed that the incident occurred when a team of NDLEA operatives, acting on intelligence and surveillance reports, raided an uncompleted building in the NNPC area of Jahi. During the operation, 74 bottles of codeine, 10 litres of codeine syrup, 48 grams of tramadol 225mg, 4.9 kilograms of skunk (a strain of cannabis), and five Android phones were recovered.

As the NDLEA team was exiting the location, they came under gunfire.

Three of the NDLEA personnel involved in the raid sustained gunshot injuries: one was hit in the rib, while the other two were wounded in the back and leg.

The injured officers were initially stabilised at the Police Clinic in Garki Area 1, before being transferred to the National Hospital, Abuja, for further medical attention.

Reacting to the development, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), expressed appreciation to the staff of the Police Clinic for their prompt support.

Marwa also thanked the Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, whom he personally contacted, for overseeing the treatment of the wounded officers.

The NDLEA boss, who is currently in Kano on official engagements, also spoke by phone with the injured officers to wish them a speedy recovery.

He further assured them that the agency would deploy every means at its disposal and work in collaboration with other security agencies to bring those responsible for the attack to justice.