The spokesperson of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, has dismissed reports that the agency destroyed all of the 1.855 tons of cocaine worth over $278m ( N194b+) seized from a warehouse in Lagos on September 19.
On Tuesday, September 27, the agency shared photos and videos of the banned substance being destroyed in Lagos.
Many Nigerians condemned the agency for destroying the substance which should serve as evidence.
Babafemi while dismissing the claims, said 27.5kg of the cocaine has been secured for use during the prosecution of the five men arrested during the raid of the warehouse.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Babafemi wrote;
“Claims and insinuations that @ndlea_nigeria has destroyed all drug exhibits recovered from the Ikorodu cocaine warehouse are false and misleading.
“Our statement on the public destruction clearly states that the order to destroy the seizure was issued by a Federal High Court Lagos.
“The statement further states that a portion of the drug seizure is secured for the purpose of prosecuting the suspects in court.
“As part of transparency and in line with legal procedures, the suspects were taken to the venue of public destruction to witness quantity destroyed.
“And sign certificate of destruction. In fact, 27.5kg of the cocaine has been secured for the purpose of prosecution.
“Those making unfounded claims obviously didn’t read our earlier statement or doing that out of mischief. Please disregard their falsehood.”
