Fake Soldier, 13 others with cannabis Arrested

Oct 16, 2011 – A suspected fake Nigerian Army corporal, David Adebayo has been arrested along with 13 other suspects by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kogi, for being in possession of 156.3 kg of cannabis sativa (Indian hemp).

 The Commander of the agency, Alhaji Idris Bello, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lokoja, that Adebayo was arrested with a Nigerian Army identity card and camouflage uniform.

 Bello said the suspect in company of one Sunday Odion, a driver, was intercepted on Okene-Auchi road in a Honda Accord car with 156.3 kg of the Indian hemp neatly packed.

 He said the suspects made a U-turn on sighting men of the agency on the road and this led a pursuit to Okpella in Edo  where they were involved in a multiple accident with a KIA pick up van and a motorcycle.

 “We had to pay the sum of N50,000 to buy another motorcycle for the victim and as the youth came out and insisted that NDLEA officers must buy them another machine,” the commander said.

 He, however, explained that the agency had intimated the military authorities to confirm the claims by Adebayo, who confessed to have taken N20,000 to escort the cannabis consignment from Auchi to Katsina.

 The NDLEA commander also told NAN that the agency over the last six weeks in the state seized 1.04 tonnes of cannabis sativa and arrested 14 suspects peddling the drug.  He said the agency intercepted and seized 848.2 kg of the substance and arrested 11 suspects in September, adding that it has so far seized 168.4 kg of the substance and arrested three suspects this month.

 Bello said the major seizures made include 74 bags of the substance weighing about 744.4 kg covered with plantains intercepted by his NDLEA officials on patrol on Okene-Auchi road on Sept. 24.

 The driver of the Abuja-bound vehicle, one Kingsley Okopwe, attracted the suspicion of the NDLEA men to himself when he stopped the vehicle on sighting them from a distance and pretended to be fixing a fault.