Crime
Ex-Boko Haram fighter, traditional ruler, 35 others arrested for drug trafficking
Ex-Boko Haram fighter, traditional ruler, 35 others arrested for drug trafficking
By: Michael Mike
A rehabilitated ex-fighter of Boko Haram terror group, Alayi Madu and the traditional ruler of Kajola, a border community between Ondo and Edo states, Baale Akinola Adebayo are among 37 persons arrested over 2.2 tonnes of illicit drugs seized by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and in raids across 12 states in the past week.
A statement by the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi on Sunday said as part of ongoing operations to mop up illicit drugs across the country ahead of the next round of elections, NDLEA officers in the early hours of last Friday stormed Kajola forest in Kajola community, a border town between Edo and Ondo states where they destroyed three cannabis farms measuring 39.8 hectares.
He said the owner of the farms who claims to be the Ba’ale of Kajola, Akinola Adebayo, 35, was arrested on the farm at 2:30am, while two other suspects believed to be his workers: Arikuyeri Abdulrahman, 23 and Habibu Ologun, 25, were also nabbed in a hut near the farms.
Babafemi also revealed that a 26-year-old Alayi Madu, who was a Boko Haram fighter for 15 years before he surrendered to the Nigerian military in 2021 was intercepted by NDLEA operatives last Thursday along Abuja-Kaduna express road with 10 kilogrammes of skunk, which he said he bought in Ibadan, Oyo state and was taking the consignment concealed in a sack to Maiduguri, Borno state.
Madu, in his statement, said he is from Banki town, Borno State and joined the notorious terrorist organisation, in 2006 when he was just nine years old, but 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-radicalization centre, Gombe. He was subsequently discharged after spending six months and thereafter traveled to Ibadan, Oyo state where he worked as commercial motorcycle rider (Okada rider) before going into drug trafficking and his eventual arrest along Abuja-Kaduna express road.
Babafemi said at the Lagos airport in Ikeja, operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a consignment of 11.90 kilogrammes of heroin and 500 grammes of skunk concealed in deep freezers, which were part of a cargo that arrived from South Africa last Tuesday onboard Ethiopian airline via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He said the agency’s sniffer dogs were deployed to locate where the illicit drugs were hidden in the cargo and in no time, identified the cartons packed in the deep freezers.
He added that a total of four suspects, Dairo Quam; Oluwaseun Ogunmene; Adeleke Abdulrasaq; Bamidele Adewale and Oluwafemi Ogunmeru. who played active roles in the movement of the drugs and a truck driver have been arrested so far in connection with the seizure.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives attached to the Gate C departure hall of the MMIA last Thursday 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, a total of 1.2 kilogrammes tramadol capsules concealed inside gift wrapping sheet and covered with old daily newspapers were discovered.
At the Idiroko land border, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence last Thursday intercepted a commercial Toyota Camry Salon Car with reg. number JJJ 756 HB (Lagos) along Ilase-Akoko road, Idiroko with 34 compressed jumbo size wraps of imported skunk weighing 17 kilogrammes and concealed in two cooking gas cylinders. Two suspects in the car, Benjamin Ajose, 48 and Oluwatobiloba Ajayi, 37, were arrested.
In Akwa Ibom state,Mrs. Hope Iniobong , 42, was arrested with bags of cannabis sativa weighing 1,112 kilogrammes (1.1 tonnes) in her house at Ediene Abak in Abak local government area, while operatives in Kogi state last Thursday recovered 25 cartons, containing 50,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection weighing 200 kilogrammes in a Toyota Hiace bus marked LAM 652 LG, Kogi, travelling from Lagos to Abuja.
In Ogun state, operatives arrested a female drug dealer, Bola Egbebi in Ota local government area, with different quantities of cannabis sativa, methamphetamine, tramadol 225, skuchies, molly and codeine cough syrup, while in Gombe state, another female drug dealer, Fatima Hassan (a.k.a Boss) was arrested last Saturday in her house at New Mile 3 area of Akko local government area with three and half blocks of skunk weighing 3.245 kilogrammes, two other female drug dealers: Folake Ladipo and Adeola Babatunde were arrested with 49.5 kilogrammes skunk last Friday in Mushin area of Lagos state.
In Kwara, operatives on patrol along Ilorin-Jebba highway last Tuesday arrested two suspects: Ismaila Saidu and Dahiru Abdullahi with 50 bags of cannabis sativa weighing 578 kilogrammes, while in the FCT Abuja, 15 suspects were transferred by the Nigerian Army with 35 bags of cannabis weighing 384.3 kilogrammes.
A 56-year-old suspect, Shinayemà Kelenku was arrested at Tse-kelenku village, Logo local government area of Benue State with 36.7 kilogrammes skunk, while in Delta state, operatives intercepted a suspect, Chimeze Ndukaire, 56, conveying psychotropic substances worth over N30 million in a white Toyota Hiace bus with registration number Lagos FST 279 XS coming from Onitsha to Warri. The vehicle was intercepted last Friday at G.S.M junction, Asaba based on a tip-off, and recovered from the bus include 267.3 litres of codeine (2,673 bottles); 25,110 pills of tramadol and other opioids.
In Kano state, NDLEA operatives last Saturday raided the Sabon-gari area of Kano where they arrested a suspect, Chukwuebuka Christopher and recovered from him 7,740 bottles of Codeine based syrup, measuring 774 litres, concealed inside 43 sacks of garlic.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) while commending the officers, men and women of MMIA, Idiroko, Edo, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Kogi, Ogun, Gombe, Lagos, Kwara, FCT, Benue, Delta and Kano Commands of the agency for their diligence and commitment to work, however charged them and their compatriots across other commands not to rest on their oars.
Ex-Boko Haram fighter, traditional ruler, 35 others arrested for drug trafficking
Iran-bound businessman ingest 53 wraps of cocaine at Port Harcourt airport
By: Michael Mike
Operatives of the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA) another businessman, 44-year-old Ezemokwe Chukwuebuka for ingesting 53 wraps of cocaine while on his way to Tehran Khomeini, Islamic Republic of Iran.
This is barely two weeks after a 60-year-old businessman Chinedu Okigbo heading to Iran with 65 pellets of cocaine in his stomach was caught at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
The spokesman of NDLEA, Femi Babafemi said Ezemokwe was arrested at the Port Harcourt airport on Saturday 7th June while trying to board Qatar Airways flight QR1434 flying to Tehran Khomeini in Iran via Doha. After a body scan proved positive to ingestion of illicit drug, he was placed on excretion observation during which he expelled 53 wraps of cocaine in six excretions with a total weight of 1.172 kilogrammes.
He said the suspect claimed to have gone into the criminal trade two years ago, moving between the West African sub-region and Iran.
He disclosed that similarly NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos in the early hours of Saturday intercepted an Italy bound passenger Edobor Ali on an Air France flight.
He noted that the NDLEA officers in collaboration with the Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), discovered drug consignments hidden in the luggage of the suspect during baggage scanning at the tarmac.
He said the suspect was thereafter brought down from the aircraft for baggage identification after which a thorough search of the bag led to the discovery of 14,410 pills of tramadol 225mg and 200mg concealed in winter jackets.
In his statement, Ebodor said he lives in Italy where he was hired and sent on the all expense paid trip to Nigeria to courier the drug consignments to Milan, Italy for a fee of 2000 Euros.
Babafemi said at the Port Harcourt Ports in Onne, Rivers state, NDLEA operatives last Friday intercepted a shipment of 157,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth over N1.1 billion in street value, during a joint examination of a watch-listed container with men of Customs Service and other security agencies. The opioid consignments were hidden behind 257 cartons of ceramic sanitary wares.
He said at least, three suspects: Friday Achibong, 47; Abraham Anthony, 21; and Utibe Okon, 24, were arrested last Thursday 12th June when NDLEA operatives raided a warehouse in Obereakai, Odukpani local government area, Cross River state, where a total of 2,687 kilogrammes skunk, a strain of cannabis, was recovered.
He added that same day in Bauchi state, NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence, arrested the duo of Iriemi Imonikhe, 49, and Sa’idu Ladan, 30, along Bauchi -Jos road after 195 blocks of skunk weighing 287 kilogrammes were discovered in their Toyota Camry car marked AKL 201 GG.
He said while 14 jumbo sacks of skunk weighing 560 kilogrammes were recovered from a wooden boat at Oniru beach in Lagos by operatives of the Marine Command of NDLEA last Thursday, officers of the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport Maiduguri same day arrested two businessmen: Ishaku Abdullahi, 30; and Buba Usman, 32, at the arrival hall of the domestic wing of the airport with various quantities of ecstacy pills and skunk packaged in fanciful wraps labelled as ‘Lychee’ and ‘Porro Legal’
Babafemi said the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands equally continued across the country in the past week.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), while commending the officers and men of MMIA, PHIA, MBIAM, PHPC, Marine, Cross River, and Bauchi commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, praised their compatriots in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
Iran-bound businessman ingest 53 wraps of cocaine at Port Harcourt airport
Man arrested for allegedly killing mother in Gungul, Benue
By: Zagazola Makama
A man, identified as Torngusha Usuwe, has been arrested in Gungul Village, Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State for allegedly killing his mother after hitting her with a stick.
Zagazola learnt that the incident occurred on Tuesday at about 2:30 p.m., when the suspect allegedly struck his mother on the left jaw during a domestic altercation, causing a severe fracture.
The victim, who began bleeding from her mouth and ear, was rushed to Zege Nyion Clinic in Gungul for urgent medical attention but was confirmed dead around 8:00 p.m. the same day.
Following a report by Terwase Usuwe, a relative of the deceased, detectives were immediately deployed to the scene. Photographs were taken, and the body was evacuated and deposited at the Gungul Memory Integrated Morgue for autopsy.
The suspect, Torngusha Usuwe, has been taken into custody, and investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Man arrested for allegedly killing mother in Gungul, Benue
Man stabbed to death over girlfriend in Minna
By: Zagazola Makama
A 25-year-old man, Usman Mohammed, has died after being stabbed during a confrontation over his girlfriend in the Barikin-Sale area of Minna, Niger State.
Zagazola Makama learnt that the incident occurred late on Monday night when Usman went to visit his girlfriend, Halima Usman, at Deeper Life Upper Base in Barikin-Sale.
While they were seated outside chatting, three young men identified as Barafi, Ayya, and another yet to be identified approached them and allegedly attempted to woo Halima.
According to eyewitnesses, the men offered Halima ₦5,000 to go out with them, which she declined. The situation escalated when the men became violent, leading to one of them stabbing Usman in the back with a dagger.
Usman was rushed to the General Hospital in Minna, where he was admitted for treatment. However, he died from his injuries in the early hours of Tuesday at about 2:30 a.m.
One of the suspects, identified as Ahmed Mohammed, has reportedly been apprehended, while efforts are ongoing to locate the other two individuals believed to be involved in the attack.
Police officers visited the scene and took photographs of the deceased before depositing the corpse at the hospital mortuary for autopsy.
One of the suspects, Ahmed Mohammed, has been arrested, while efforts are ongoing to apprehend the remaining culprits currently at large.
Investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Man stabbed to death over girlfriend in Minna
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