More than forty suspected drug dealers invaded a farmland in Bolorunduro axis in Akure North Local Council Area of Ondo State over the weekend.
Armed with dangerous weapons, the hoodlums were said to have attacked the owners of the farmland.
The farmland, a cocoa plantation, belonged to Augustine Christopher, a peasant farmer in Bolorunduro.
It was gathered that the thugs got angry when they discovered that some bags of Indian hemp kept on the farmland had disappeared.
One Isaac Akpan, who was working on the farm when they stormed the farm settlement, was beaten to a pulp and kidnapped.
The thugs were said to have threatened to kill Akpan if the missing bags weren’t produced.
Narrating her ordeal in the hands of the hoodlums, Martina said she was on her way to the farm when she saw Akpan being taken away by the thugs.
“I went to the farm late in the evening on that fateful day. I just had a miscarriage, and I was tired, but decided to join my husband and brother at the farm because we had left the farm unattended to for some days, because of my father-in-law’s burial.
“I met these people (thugs), about 40 of them on motorcycles, and I saw my brother who had already been beaten and I turned back and was told he had been taken to Ilu Abo.
“I went there with our father, only to find my brother on his knees and he was being seriously beaten. Immediately they saw us, they descended on us and beat up my father to a coma, while demanding where the bags of Indian hemp were kept.
“My father fainted and as I tried to touch him, they macheted me, while some of them beat me with sticks and I also fainted, because I lost a lot of blood.”
According to her, the hoodlums also threatened to kill all members of the family if they refused to produce the bags of Indian hemp. She also said they invited some officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to hand them over to the Police for stealing.
She said her husband later reported the case to the Police and she was taken to the hospital for treatment, while the thugs ran away.
Augustine Christopher, husband of the victim, said he was forced to report the case at the police station in Oba Ile, after the hoodlums threatened to kill all members of his family.
“I am calling on the security agents to fish out these people. Although two of them have been arrested, we still have them across the community in Ogbese, Bolorunduro and other areas,” he said.
Femi Joseph, Police Spokesman in Ondo State, confirmed the attack and noted that security agents had arrested some of the thugs connected with the incident.
Joseph added that investigation had begun into the case and stressed that the perpetrators would be brought to book.
“In fact, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Gbenga Adeyanju, has ordered the transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID),” he added.