From Godwin Tsa Abuja
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has apprehended a 70-year-old drug trafficker, Mohammed Rabiu Wada, who supplies illicit substances to Boko Haram insurgents and bandits.
The suspect, who hails from Dallawa town, state of Agadez in Niger Republic, was arrested on Thursday with 10 pallets of skunk in Jebba, Niger State.
NDLEA in a statement by its Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, said that Wada had brought into Nigeria hides and skin from Niger Republic to sell in Lagos.
According to him, during interrogation, the suspect claimed that he sold his goods for N300,000 in Lagos and used the proceed to buy 10 pallets of skunk at N25,000 each.
Babafemi said that Wada was on his way back to Niger Republic through the Northwest where he sells drugs to bandits when he was intercepted in Jebba.
According to the Commander, Niger State Command of the NDLEA, Aloye Isaac, the arrest was a further confirmation of the nexus between drug abuse and the security challenges in parts of the country.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in an operation backed by soldiers in Ondo State have identified and destroyed three large cannabis farms measuring 95 hectares, located at Ogbese forest.
The Ondo State Commander of the agency, Haruna Gagara, said although no one was arrested during the operation, investigation has since commenced to identify and apprehend the owners of the farms.
In the same vein, operatives of the agency in Kogi State have intercepted and seized 116.1kilogramme of cannabis at a patrol point along Okene-Lokoja expressway.
A suspect, Sulaiman Said, who was arrested with the illicit drug, claimed he got them from Edo State and was heading to Kaduna State.
In his reaction to the successful operations in Niger, Ondo and Kogi states, Chairman/CEO of NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended the commanders, men and officers of the three commands for their commitment and unrelenting efforts to rid their areas of responsibility of illicit drugs.