The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Edo State has raised the alarm over rising trend of illegal cannabis cultivation across local forests, identifying it as a major catalyst driving violent cultism and kidnapping in the region.

According to state command officials, criminal cartels operating vast illegal cannabis farms deep within forest reserves rely on cult groups and armed syndicates to secure their plantations, enforce territorial control, and raise illicit capital.

The agency noted that funds generated from large-scale drug harvesting are directly funneled into acquiring illegal firearms, financing cult warfare, and executing abduction operations along major highway corridors and rural communities.

In response to the growing threat, the NDLEA reaffirmed its commitment to intensifying joint intelligence operations with sister security agencies to raid illicit farmlands, destroy cannabis plantations, and dismantle the logistics networks sustaining organized crime across the state.