For allegedly selling cookies laced with drug to secondary school students and unsuspecting members of the public in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) , a 300-level university student, Rhoda Agboje, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
Agboje was arrested alongside her boyfriend, Ifeayin Nwankwo, while the anti-narcotic are still on the trail of other members of the syndicate.
The syndicate as gathered produced the cookies with a highly psychoactive variant of cannabis known as Arizona, in addition to alcohol and Rohypnol, among other ingredients.
The NDLEA Director, Media & Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, was blown open following the arrest of Rhoda Agboje with four pieces of the drug cookies on April 18, 2021.
According to him, “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”
Meanwhile , the Commander, FCT Command of the NDLEA, Mohammed Malami Sokoto, explained that ” her 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.”
Commending officers and men of the FCT Command for unravelling the syndicate, the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) described the syndicate’s act as criminal, while adding that it was “equally unconscionable by deliberately luring schoolchildren into drug 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 stated.
