Rivers: NDLEA Operatives Attacked By Hoodlums, Drug Kingpin Freed

Operatives of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) were attacked by hoodlums suspected to be cultists on Friday evening and a drug trafficking kingpin was freed after his arrest.

Per reports, the ugly incident happened around Odunze Street axis of Ikwerre road in Mile 3, Diobu in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State.

According to an eyewitness, the hoodlums in large numbers were armed with guns, knives, broken bottles and other dangerous weapons when they launched the attack on the NDLEA officials shortly after the drug dealer popularly called '50' was nabbed.

It was gathered that a successful undercover operation involving three NDLEA officials led to the infiltration in the Odunze area, a den of cultists and illicit drug trafficking, with '50' as their prime target.

Following his arrest, the drug kingpin was being dragged to their patrol van when scores of suspected cultists confronted them.

The ambushed NDLEA officials reportedly fired some shots into the air to scare off the hoodlums but it failed to deter the rampaging cultists who aided the escape of '50' before the patrol van arrived at the scene.

Some of the NDLEA operatives sustained injuries in the attack and the incident caused pandemonium around the Ikwerre road axis of the region.

As of the time of filing this report, police patrol vans were seen patrolling the area.