By Gom Mirian
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) have arrested an ex-Boko Haram fighter, Alayi Madu, and the traditional ruler of Kajola, a border community between Ondo and Edo states, Baale Akinola Adebayo for their involvement in drug trafficking.
The agency’s spokesperson, Mr. Femi Babafemi who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, said the feat was achieved by its operatives in the wee hours of Friday as ongoing efforts to mop illicit drugs across the country ahead of the governorship elections.
Babafemi explained that the NDLEA officers stormed the Kajola forest in the Kajola community, where they destroyed three cannabis farms measuring 39.801546 hectares.
According to him, the owner of the farms who claims to be the Ba’ale of Kajola, Akinola Adebayo, 35, was arrested on the farm at 2:30 am, 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.
In the same vein, 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 on Thursday, March 9 along Abuja-Kaduna express road with 10 kilograms 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-radicalization 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 (Okada rider) before going into drug trafficking, and was eventually arrested along Abuja-Kaduna expresses road.” the statement read.
“At the Lagos airport in Ikeja, operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a consignment of 11.90 kilograms of heroin and 500grams of skunk concealed in deep freezers, which were part of a cargo that arrived from South Africa on Tuesday 7th March onboard Ethiopian airline via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“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 freezers.
“A total of four suspects that 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.”.
