Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have discovered a snake guarded shrine used to store illicit drugs in Igor community, Benin city, Edo State.
The operatives detected a specially constructed large hole storage in a wall covered with wallpapers and fetish objects.
A statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy of the Agency, Femi Babafemi, said different quantities of illicit substances such as methamphetamine, Loud, Colorado and Arizona, all strong strains of cannabis with a total weight of 8.743 kilograms, were pulled out from the deep hole dug in the wall of the shrine building.
The statement added that two ladies, Sonia Ezumezu and Risikatu Tijani were arrested during the operation on Tuesday after the big black snake guarding the shrine was demobilized.
In a separate operation, two suspects, Obi Ferguson and Ernest Abanum, were arrested on Saturday 22nd June when NDLEA operatives raided the Usen forest in Ovia South West Local Government Area, in Edo State where 209kg cannabis and a motorcycle were recovered.
The statement further added that operatives on Tuesday 18th June in Abuja intercepted a white Nissan Frontier pick up vehicle with amber lights and fake registration number of a security agency at Kiyi village in Kuje area of the FCT.
The vehicle was loaded with 454 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa, weighing 340.8kg procured at Uzeba, Edo state. A 76-year-old grandfather, Mr. Francis Omofa, linked to the consignment was arrested.
