Officers the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a rehabilitated ex-fighter of the Boko Haram terror group, Alayi Madu and the traditional ruler of Kajola, a border community between Ondo and Edo states, Baale Akinola Adebayo, for dealing in illicit drugs.
They are among the 37 persons arrested over 2.2 tonnes of illicit drugs seized by the NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos and in raids across 12 states of the federation in the past week.
According to NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said this is part of ongoing operations to mop up illicit drugs across the country ahead of the next round of elections.
He said NDLEA officers in the early hours of Friday 10th March, stormed Kajola forest in Kajola community, where they destroyed three cannabis farms measuring 39.801546 hectares.
The owner of the farms who claims to be the Ba’ale of Kajola, 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.
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 9th March 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 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.”
Also, 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.
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.