A rehabilitated ex-fighter of Boko Haram, Alayi Madu, and Baale Akinola Adebayo the traditional ruler of Kajola, a border community between Ondo and Edo states, were among 37 persons arrested with over 2.2 tons of illicit drugs seized in the past week as reported by The Nation.
They were arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos and in raids across 12 states, according to a statement by the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi.
Babafemi said yesterday that NDLEA officials, in the early hours of Friday, stormed Kajola forest where they destroyed three cannabis farms measuring 39.801546 hectares.
He said the owner of the farms, Ba’ale of Kajola, Akinola Adebayo, 35, was arrested on the farm at 2:30am, alongside two other suspects, Arikuyeri Abdulrahman, 23, and Habibu Ologun, 25, believed to be his workers.
The statement reads, “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 Expressway 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-radicalisation centre, Gombe before he was discharged after spending six months.
“Thereafter, he travelled 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.