Kano — But for providence, the Kano command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) could have witnessed a repeat of the massacre of some of its personnel sometime ago in Kabo Local Government Area of the state. In that encounter five operatives of the agency were slaughtered by angry mob while attempting to arrest a drug suspect who mischievously raised alarm on sighting the NDLEA men, branding them armed robbers. Five of them were killed in the process.

Similar fate nearly replicated itself penultimate week when operatives from the same command were attacked in a similar manner when a drug suspect allegedly raised alarm that the narcotic officers were either kidnappers or armed robbers invading the community. Acting on the weight of this alarm, Daily Independent was told that able-bodied youths from Kura descended on the officers like a swarm of bees, wounding them brutally. Some of them are said to be on admission at the Military hospital with the doctors battling to save their lives.

Narrating the incident to Daily Independent in Kano, the commander of the agency, Walter Nicholas Salu, said apart from wounding his men, the attackers also burnt the vehicle with which they went for the operation in Kura. "My men were on operation in Kura to pick a major Indian hemp dealer in the area. After successfully handcuffing him and carting away four bags of hemp; the suspect (Sani) began shouting 'thieves, thieves' on his captors. This attracted some young villagers who ran to the scene with dangerous weapons with which they inflicted varying degrees of injuries on my officers. Four were wounded, but Sani suffered a more severe wounds.

The NDLEA chief said he has taken up the issue with the authorities of Kura local government as well as the district head to fish out those involved in the attack and return the drug suspect they escaped with, to face the law. According to him, that is the only precondition for peace in that community. "Sani (suspect) ran away with our handcuffs on his hands during the fracas, and this is the third time our men on legitimate duty have been mobbed. Before this incident, three officers were attacked with knives, stabbed in the buttocks and head, and the suspects in this case are facing trial."

Walter pleaded with members of the Kano public to stop treating his men as enemies but people who have come to restore sanity. "Religious leaders should continue to pray for our success in this onerous task," he appealed.

He announced that the command penultimate week impounded 376.5kg of wheat believed to be Indian hemp worth some N3 million. The arrest, he said, was based on tip off. In all, 21 bags were impounded with compressed blocks of Indian hemp loaded into Bacco bags, he disclosed.