By Joseph Titus Yekeryan
Two Nigerian nationals have been busted by the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA) with about 781 kilograms of narcotic substance.
Stanley Igbo, aged 42, and Nwachukwu Ghigzie, 47, were arrested on Friday, 2 September 2022 in Gbarnga, Bong County following a tipoff from an LDEA officer who “pretended to be a Buyer.”
The drugs confiscated are heroin and cocaine, with a total market value of a little over 6.1 Million, according to the LDEA.
Bong County LDEA Commander Thomas Saye told a news conference following the arrest that the suspects have been pretending to sell auto parts at the Gbarnga Administrative building’s junction over the years.
“These guys have been selling drugs and pretending like their entire source of income is the sale of auto parts,” the Commander said.
“They only have small auto parts but the main reason for their stay at the shop is the sale of these substances,” Commander Saye added.
According to him, they planted one of their female intelligence officers with about L$45,000 who went to the shop and acted like she wanted to buy some of the drugs for retail marketing.
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He stated that when the officer got the full understanding about how the narcotic drugs are sold, she later alarmed the LDEA and the police who immediately went to the scene to carry on the arrest.
“Before our Intelligence Officer [could] even get the clear understanding about how these guys are transacting their businesses, it was so difficult,” he said.
“At a certain point, he (the suspect) told her that he was not selling anything because he suspected that some security personnel were around. But talking from one point to another, he later decided to sell the items to her at which time we got the information,” he said.
Asked whether there is information about others who may have been in business connections with the suspects, Commander Saye said they cannot disclose their next target to the public.
But he said they remain committed to doing the right thing amid the fight against drug trafficking.
In other cases, the Bong County LDEA Commander said Aleo Bankura, the Sierra Leonean national who was arrested on 11 July 2022 with 191 kilograms of marijuana, has been taken to court for trial. He said if proven guilty, he will be taken to jail.
He also told the media that they have launched a manhunt for David Mulbah, a town Chief from lower Bong who had over the past assisted suspect Bankura in the sales of marijuana. —Edited by Winston W. Parley
