Two operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on special duty from Ogwashi Uku command headquarters in Delta state were yesterday arrested and detained at the Sapele Police Station over the sudden death of a 50-year-old alleged drug dealer, Ilaya Christine.

Christine allegedly said to be dealing in marijuana and other hard drugs was reportedly arrested by the Drug Enforcement officers from Ogwashi Uku Command at about 9 am on Friday morning for being in possession of hard drugs

The deceased’s friend, Friday Akpotor said Christine was arrested by the NDLEA officers numbering about 14 with two vehicles at about 9am and taken away, only for them to return him half dead after torturing him “they killed him, took him to St James hospital, then another hospital where he was confirmed dead,” he cried.

Another source close to the Ilaya family said “Christine was raided this morning by NDLEA men over possession of drugs and they took him away, 30 minutes later they brought him back feeling unwell and it was the wife and the officers who took him to the clinic and then they left for the Central Hospital where he died”

Answering questions on what he thinks and if he suspects that the NDLEA operatives battered Christine, he said “yes, obviously, they beat him to death and as I speak to you, his corpse has been deposited at the Sapele General Hospital mortuary by the police and the NDLEA officers without even contacting the family,” he said.

A senior NDLEA officer, Anietie Inam who spoke on phone confirmed the death of Christine but denied the story that the alleged drug dealer was battered to death, “that’s not true, you see, our men went to raid a drug dealer in Sapele and after taking him away, we found out that he was breathing difficultly, on enquiry, he told the officers that he was hypertensive, so they took him back to his house, it was the wife who told us to take him to St Joseph hospital, from where the doctor referred them to the Sapele Central Hospital where he gave up the ghost,” she said, adding that the drug peddler has an underlying heath problem.

She added that: “The story that the Agency officers battered the drug dealer to death was not true, he has this health problem and even his wife told us, the man was an hypertensive patient”

Repeated calls to the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Edafe Bright was left unanswered, however a source who craved anonymity confirmed that “two officers who led the NDLEA team from the command headquarter in Ogwashi Uku to Sapele on an arrest has been detained over the death of one Christine, a drug dealer, who developed an unknown illness moments after he was arrested with cannabis and other hard drugs and he died. Investigation is on and we will certainly do an autopsy report to ascertain the cause of death.”

However, some group of youths who assembled at the Tropical area, in Amukpe where the deceased was arrested .from, has pointed accusing finger at the agency for brutally killing their brother, “we will not accept this and soon you will know what we can do,” they said.

(Vanguard)

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