Officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have apprehended a rehabilitated Boko Haram terrorist, Alayi Madu and the traditional ruler of Kajola, a border community between Ondo and Edo State, Akinola Adebayo, for dealing in skunk and Indian hemp.
The agency said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi that the two men were among 37 persons arrested with over 2.2 tons of illicit drugs seized by its operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos and in raids across 12 states of the federation in the past week.
Babafemi said the anti-narcotics operatives stormed Kajola forest in Kajola community last Friday where they destroyed 39.801546 hectares of cannabis farms.
He said the owner of the farms, Adebayo (35), who claims to be the Baale of Kajola, was arrested in the farm, while two other suspects believed to be his workers Arikuyeri Abdulrahman, 23 and Habibu Ologun, 25, were also picked up.
Similarly, the NDLEA spokesman said 26-year-old Madu, who was said to have been a Boko Haram fighter for 15 years before he surrendered to the Nigerian military in 2021, was intercepted by NDLEA operatives on Thursday, March 9 along Abuja-Kaduna Road with 10Kg of skunk, which he said he bought in Ibadan, Oyo State and was taking the consignment concealed in a sack to Maiduguri, Borno state.
“In his statement, Madu said he is from Banki town, Borno State and joined the notorious terrorist organisation in 2006 when he was nine years old. He said he repented and surrendered to the military in 2021, after which he underwent rehabilitation and de-radicalisation processes at Umaru Shehu Rehabilitation Centre, Maiduguri and Malam Sidi De-radicalisation Centre, Gombe before he was discharged after spending six months.
“Thereafter, he travelled to Ibadan, Oyo State where he worked as a commercial motorcycle rider before going into drug trafficking, and was eventually arrested along Abuja-Kaduna express road,” he said.
Babafemi also said the agency intercepted a consignment of 11.90kg of heroin and 500 grams of skunk concealed in deep freezers at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
He said the consignments arrived from South Africa on Tuesday, March 7 on board Ethiopian Airline via Addis Ababa.
He said the agency’s sniffer dogs were deployed to locate where the illicit drugs were hidden in the cargo and in no time, they identified the cartons packed in the deep freezer.
He further disclosed that four suspects who played active roles in the movement of the drugs and a truck driver have been arrested so far in connection with the seizure. They include Dairo Quam, Oluwaseun Ogunmene, Adeleke Abdulrasaq, Bamidele Adewale and Oluwafemi Ogunmeru,”
Besides, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives attached to the Gate C Departure Hall of the airport had on Thursday, March 9 intercepted a passenger, Aigbedion Philomena, heading to Italy via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airline flight.
He said when her bags containing body cream, hair attachments, drinks, and some food items were searched, 1.20kg of tramadol capsules concealed inside a gift wrapping sheet and covered with old daily newspapers was discovered.
The NDLEA spokesman further said one Mrs. Iniobong David, 42, was arrested with bags of cannabis weighing 1,112kg (1.1 tons) in her Ediene Abak residence in Abak local government area of Akwa Ibom State.
Similarly, he said operatives in Kogi State on Thursday, March 9 recovered 25 cartons, containing 50,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection weighing 200kg in a Toyota Hiace bus marked LAM 652 LG, Kogi, travelling from Lagos to Abuja.
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