By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Anambra State Government on Sunday evening demolished an apartment building known as Airtight Guest House and Bar, used to run a brothel.

The guest house which is located at Y-Junction, Okpuno, Awka South LGA, had been identified as a den of criminals and drug peddlers/users.

Operatives of Agunechemba, a local security agency in the state had on Saturday stormed the brothel and arrested its manager, storekeeper and barman, along with 20 girls suspected to be commercial sex workers and some male patrons.

The operatives who were led by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Community Security, Mr Ken Emeakayi intercepted a large consignment of hard drugs from their store.

While confessing to dealing in hard drug, the manager and store operator of the guest house, Paul Chibuike, aka, 'Mandela' said that he also let out their apartment to prostitutes for use as short time joint.

Chibuike, an indigene of Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, said he was only managing the business for his master, who he identified as an Nnewi man.

According to him, his master also owns another drug outlet in Awka’s red light district, Abakiliki Street.

He further noted that they monitor the prostitutes in the guest house to avoid bringing men to sleep over in the facility.

Some of the drugs found in the joint include, Tramadol, Indian hemp (commonly known as “cana”), nitrous oxide (popularly called “laughing gas”), Rohypnol, and several other hard drugs.

Also discovered was a locally made single-barrel short gun, but the manager maintained that the gun was abandoned by a guest who used the facility.

Speaking during the demolition, Emeakayi warned property owners to ensure they verify the identity and activities of their tenants before giving out their property to avoid being caught in the web.

He said that Anambra State Government bulldozed the facility, citing the Anambra Homeland Security Law, which empowers the government to take over any property used for kidnapping, drugs and other crimes.