The Anambra State Government has demolished Airtight Guest House and Bar, which served as a brothel in Awka, the State capital.
Operatives of the state security outfit, Agunechemba, carried out the demolition exercise on Sunday amid tight security.
The brothel was found to be a safe haven for large-scale peddlers of hard drugs, where large quantities of illicit substances were discovered on Saturday night.
Reports said that operatives of Agunechemba swooped on the complex on Saturday and arrested its manager, storekeeper and barman, as well as 20 ladies suspected to be commercial sex workers and some male patrons.
The guest house, which is located at Y-Junction, Okpuno, Awka South Local Government Area, had been identified as a den of criminals and drug peddlers.
The operatives, led by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Community Security, Mr. Ken Emeakayi, intercepted a large consignment of hard drugs from the store of the illegal facility.
During the raid, the manager and store operator of the guest house confessed to dealing in hard drugs.
This was aside from letting out their apartments to prostitutes for short-term use.
The manager of the guest house, Paul Chibuike, also known as “Mandela,” from Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, told journalists that he was only managing the business for his boss, whom he identified as an “Nnewi man.”
He disclosed that his boss also owns another drug outlet in Awka’s red-light district, Abakaliki Street.
He further explained that they monitored prostitutes to prevent them from bringing men to sleep over in the facility.
Some of the drugs found in the brothel included Tramadol, Indian hemp, nitrous oxide (popularly called “laughing gas”), Rohypnol, and several other hard substances.
Also recovered from the premises was a locally made single-barrel shotgun.
The manager stated that the gun was abandoned by a guest who used the facility.
The Anambra State Government, in reaction, quickly deployed a bulldozer to the facility, citing the Anambra Homeland Security Law, which empowers the government to take over any property used for kidnapping, drugs and other crimes.
Emeakayi, who supervised the demolition process, warned property owners to verify the identity and activities of their tenants before leasing out their properties, to avoid being caught off guard.