Written by Oluwatoyin Malik and Oluwakemi Adetunji Sunday, 05 August 2012THE long arm of the law caught up with marijuana dealers on Thursday, August 2, when four of them were nabbed by policemen from Ojoo Division at Alphonsus area, Ibadan, where they were waiting to load 17 bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp for onward transportation to Jebba in Niger State.
Briefing journalists on Friday, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Clement Adoda, said that acting on a tip-off that a large consignment of the weeds were about to be transported from Ojoo motor park to the North, the policemen, led by the Divisional Crime Officer, went to the park and intercepted 17 bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp, concealed and parked as bales of used clothes.
Saying that the police were on the trail of other fleeing suspects, Adoda stated that the suspects would be handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency after preliminary investigation by the police.
Speaking with Crime Features, one of the suspects, Zainab Umoru claimed that five of the bags, which she called ‘bushload’, belonged to her partner, Idowu Dominic. Madam Umoru who said that she was not married to Dominic but that they were in a relationship that had brought forth a 12-year-old child, revealed that a relation of hers who was working for Dominic was arrested by NDLEA operatives at Akinyele area with two bags of Indian hemp and that Dominic intended to sell the five bags so that they could find a way out of the prison for the boy currently awaiting trial and remanded in Agodi prisons for the past eight months.
According to Madam Umoru, “I am a food vendor while Dominic is a mechanic. It was not long that he started this business. He started in 2010 and even stopped selling the product since the boy’s arrest. We were living in Igangan then and it was the rural people who used to come and buy in small quantities. He was not selling in bags. We don’t even know where those who sell for us come from. They used to bring it from farms. The worth of one bag is between N15,000 and N100,000, depending on how good it is. We were looking for N500,000 which we were told to bring to get the boy released.
However, Dominic denied being involved in the business, saying that he was called when his wife was arrested and upon his arrival, he was also arrested. “I am her partner but I don’t know anything about the business. I am a mechanic. I was called from Imeko in Ogun State on Friday by NURTW officials to come and find a way of settling the problem my partner was in. That was what brought me to Ibadan. I know about the arrest of her relation but I only got to know about what he was involved in when he was arrested.”
Another suspect, Adebowale Morounfoye, also told CrimeFeatures that he did not know the content of the bags, as he was just told to help look for a truck that would convey them to Jebba by those who brought them. According to Morounfoye, “I am a driver at Ojoo park and I also help people to get trucks to load their goods to the north whenever I am not driving. I get commission on this and that was what I wanted to do on Friday morning. I never knew the bags contained indian hemp. It was when the police came in the evening that they told us they wanted to check what was in the bag and they discovered it was hemp.”
How I fell into the hands of kidnappers -Victim
The victim, Christian OdahThe fourth suspect, Madam Joke Oyebola who was weeping profusely said she did not know anything about the suspected illicit drugs but only wnet to the police station to help Morounfoye out when she learnt he had been arrested. “The man had been of help to me in the past, we are not man and wife, I just felt I should reciprocate his past kind gestures to me by standing by him in time of trouble. That was why I first claimed to be his wife so that I would be allowed to talk to him and get him to give me the contact of those who could help me out. I did not know that I would be joined with the suspects,” she stated.
CHRISTIAN Odah, a 26-year-old man from Okpowu Local Government area of Benue State would be counted lucky as he was able to get his freedom from some kidnappers who abducted him on July 18 while he was on his way to the bank at Ajah area, Lagos State. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself in a bush on the outskirt of Ibadan. Not only was he stripped naked, he also had his shaven with razor and was beaten with cable, with the threat that he would be killed.
However, unlike past cases of kidnap, Christian’s abductors were out to humiliate him and probably kill him, save for the quick intervention of operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ibadan, whose knowledge of the kidnappers’ activities set them on edge, prompting his quick release before the police could get them.
Narrating how he fell victim of the suspected kidnappers, Christian, who said he was living at Lekki Ajah and working with a paints industry, stated: “On Wednesday, July 18, my boss asked me to go and pay cash into an acccount at Kingston Bank and cheque into Zenith Bank, both within Ikota Shopping Complex. The cash was N229,380 while another N12,000 was given to me to be paid for advertisement in Catholic Church at Ajah.
“It was around 9 a.m. and a staff dropped me at the front of the shopping complex. I wanted to cross the road but noticed a white Nissan Jeep coming. It had no registration number. I stopped for it to pass but as it passed, it stopped and reversed, following me inside the complex.
“I thought the driver wanted to park so I moved away from his path. Instead of going ahead, the driver moved close to me while someone within the car opened the door and dragged me inside. I was blindfolded while they drove out of the premises with speed. On the way, one of them whom others referred to as Jack asked me of my name and I told him. Another one called Scorpion queried him on why Jack asked the question and that one kept quiet.
“Scorpion later told me that they would kill me and I started begging them. They removed the blindfold and I saw a signpost which indicated we were along Lagos-Ibadan expressway. They had collected my phone but I didn’t let them know that I had another one. I took the second one and sent a message to my brother whom I was staying with that I had been kidnapped. Jack saw me but did not say anything.
“When they wanted to enter the bush, they blindfolded me again. Inside the bush, they removed my shirt and trousers. Scorpion asked me whether I knew how to fight and I answered in the negative. He then asked why I fought their boss, I replied that I only had misunderstanding with a man in the church on Sunday, July 15, and I explained what happened to them. They started beating me with cable again. They also used the butt of their gun to hit me on the forehead.
“One of the other two, whose names I did not know, started using his phone to record me. Three of them later left, leaving me with Jack. Jack asked me of my denomination and I told him I am a Catholic. He asked me to recite the rosary, I did. I told him I am an altar boy and he said I should name any altar equipment and I did. He then said that he would not allow others to kill me. He warned me not to eat any food they bring. When he saw them coming, he kept quiet.
“On the return of others, they shaved my head with razor and gave me food which I rejected. They asked Jack whether he told me anything but he said no. Scorpion started beating me again while the one who drove recorded everything with his phone. He also took my picture with my phone and asked me to upload it on my facebook. In that picture, I was weeping with mucus dripping from my nostrils. Four of them then left after chaining my legs and said they would be back. Jack later came back, he asked me for my second phone which I used in the vehicle and I gave him.
“He asked me to call my brother. He also sent text messages to my brother, promising to help me. He left me afterwards, promising to be back with my phone, after which he would lead me out of the bush. He came again, removed the chain on my leg, helped me to dress up, blindfolded me, held my left hand and led me out to a red car.
“We came out of the bush on to the expressway. It was already late in the night. Jack removed the blindfold beside a parked tanker and asked me to run without looking back. He threw the nylon containing the cash I was to deposit and the cheque at me but the money was not there, only the cheque. The SARS team then came and took me to the hospital.”
Unknown to Christian, however, his brother had put the police on alert at Ibadan and operatives from SARS were drafted to toll gate area when the service provider of the network being used by Christian was contacted and the police were able to gather that the calls from Christian’s phone were being made from somewhere behind British American Tobacco Company.
Police sources informed Crime Features that in order to avoid putting the life of the kidnap victim at risk by storming the bush, SARS operatives laid siege close to the toll gate to allow the suspects to release their victim, since they were already negotiating his release with his brother. By the time he was eventually released, three members of the gang had left through another route while the one that released him also came out from another route along the expressway before speeding off in a hurry.
The opratives, led by the officer-in-charge, were said to have rushed the victim to a private hospital at Imalefalafia area, where they paid for his treatment before his family members could come for him.
via Tribune
http://tribune.com.ng/sun/crime-features/8085-police-arrrest-drug-dealers-with-17-bags-of-indian-hemp
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