Posted by By MOSHOOD ADEBAYO, Abeokuta on
A new dimension was added to smuggling across Nigeria's border as 35 kilogrammes of substance suspected to be Marijuana were concealed in the petrol tank of a Volkswagen Beatle car and in a sack of cassava chips.
A new dimension was added to smuggling across Nigeria's border as 35 kilogrammes of substance suspected to be Marijuana were concealed in the petrol tank of a Volkswagen Beatle car and in a sack of cassava chips.
The criminal acts were uncovered by the Nigeria-Benin Police Enhanced Joint Border (EJBP) Patrol, Idi-Iroko, Ogun State .
The rickety car, with registration number Kaduna AE 485 GKW, was arrested by the patrol led by a Superintendent of Police, Mr. Evans Elam Shem, last Thursday.
Briefing journalists at Idiroko last Monday, the leader of the EJBP, Evans, said it was the eagle eyes of his team that spotted the suspects.
Evans spoke in the presence of the Area Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mr. Olutekunbi Davies, who in the past two weeks had also made similar seizure.
Daily Sun learnt that the EJBP team was attracted by the blue coloured rickety car at Ilara, in Imeko-Afon Local Government Area of the state. 'On sighting the police, the driver and the occupant of the over 30-year-old car abandoned the vehicle and fled into the bush," Evans said.
Explaining how the arrest was made, he said further: 'The vehicle was thoroughly searched, but nothing incriminating was found. We were in a dilemma whether to leave the car after the initial search and nothing incriminating was found.
'But my team continued to wonder why the driver and the occupants of the car would have jumped into the bush if they were not criminals.
'We then opened the bonnet of the car and behold, the petrol tank of the car was stuffed with Indian Hemp weighing 9.8 kilograms."
With this shock find, the SP insisted that the suspect must be arrested, hence the team laid ambush for five days in the suspect's house before one Ganiyu Bello, 25, was arrested.
While on a similar assignment, the team also intercepted one Ayinde Pascal riding on a motorcycle with 24.5kgs of Cannabis Sativa (Indian hemp) cleverly concealed in a sack of cassava chips to beat any security agent.
The suspects, Ganiyu Bello, and Ayinde Pascal, who have been arrested, told Daily Sun that they were contracted to transport the hard substance.
'I am not the owner of the sack, so I will not know what it contains. Somebody who is now at large paid me to carry the sack across for him. It is unfortunate that he succeeded in running away while I'm now in police net," he said with remorse.
On his own part, Ganiyu said he was driven into the illicit trade by the harsh economic climate in the country. 'It is all in an attempt at fending for myself and my family."
The NDLEA Area Commander in Idiroko, Mr. Olutekunbi Davies, told Daily Sun that the news is not the suspect or exhibit, but 'the notoriety and mode of concealment of the substance which were meant to beat security agents and or the public."
Davies described the feat as a result of the renewed relationship between the EJBP and NDLEA promising hard time for all criminals in whatever form in his area of command.