A 300-level University student, Rhoda Agboje and her boyfriend, Ifeanyi Nwankwo, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for selling drug-laced cookies to school students and other unsuspecting individuals in Abuja.
NDLEA Spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, revealed this in a statement released to the public on Tuesday, April 20.
He said narcotics agents in FCT, Abuja, have also launched a search for another member of the syndicate involved in producing and selling the cookies laced with Arizona, a highly psychoactive variant of cannabis; alcohol and rohypnol among other ingredients.
Babafemi said the suspects were exposed after Rhoda was arrested with four pieces of the drug cookies on Sunday, 18th April, 2021.
The statement reads,
“She was arrested at the NNPC Cooperative estate, opposite Gaduwa estate in Abuja based on a complaint that she gave an unsuspecting young girl the cookies to eat. After eating the drug cookies, the girl lost her mind and could not sleep, making incoherent utterances due to the effects of the cookies,”
“Under interrogation, the prime suspect, Rhoda confessed she prepares the cookies with a friend and sells each pack of three pieces at N1, 500. A follow up operation in her boyfriend’s house led to the recovery of over 200 pieces of the drug cookies.
According to the Commander, FCT Command of the NDLEA, Mohammed Malami Sokoto,
“The boyfriend, Ifeanyi Nwankwo and all the equipment used for the production of the cookies were brought to the office for further investigation. The suspect confirmed that she sells at parties and to unsuspecting members of the public, including school children that are the most vulnerable. The suspect also supplies some supermarkets and clubs in the FCT.”
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended officers of the FCT NDLEA Command for uncovering the syndicate. He said what the syndicate was doing was not only criminal but equally unconscionable by deliberately luring school children into drugs under the cover of selling to them biscuits or cookies.
“I wish to draw the attention of parents to this new devious strategy to get children addicted to drug cookies and to urge them to remain vigilant while monitoring what their wards bring home from school or consume as snack”, Marwa added.
