A cannabis dealer, one Babatunde Busari, who was arrested in
the Mushin area of Lagos on February 19, said he took to the outlawed business
when his previous job in a car wash did not pay off.
The suspect who hails from Ibadan, Oyo State, said his life
as a car cleaner was not the good life he had always dreamt of.
According to him, in a statement made available to newsmen
on Saturday, he had never been arrested before.
Busari, who is in his 30s, is referred to as a notorious
cannabis dealer in Mushin by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
When NDLEA raided his base on Friday, 22 sacks of Indian
hemp weighing 301.2kg were reportedly recovered.
He reportedly told officials that he started the business
two years ago, after many years of making little money working in a car wash.
He said, “I used to work in a car wash until a friend
introduced me to the cannabis trade. At the beginning, my daily average sale
was N5,000.
“I took over the business when my friend travelled out of
the state few months ago. It is so painful that I was arrested when I was
beginning to enjoy the fruit of my labour.”
According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju,
officials of the agency decided to conduct a raid on the area around 3 am on
Friday.
“The operation, which took place at about 3 am, was part of
strategies to re-position the anti-narcotic agency for optimum performance.
“The agency discovered that drug dealers were using one of
the shops in a market at Mushin as warehouse for illicit storage of drugs.
“Investigation revealed that the shop where the cannabis was
found was always locked. The estimated street value of the seized cannabis is
about N3m.”
The Lagos State Commander of the NDLEA, Mr. Aliyu Sule,
confirmed the arrest disclosing that Busari was caught red-handed having been
under surveillance for a few weeks.
Sule said, “The operation, which lasted for about an hour
was very successful as there was no resistance. The suspect would soon be
charged to court.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the anti-narcotic agency, Col.
Muhammad Abdallah has given directives that all markets where drugs are sold
should be dismantled.
“I want every notorious drug dealer arrested and prosecuted.
We must remain strategic in our offensive and leverage on intelligence planning
to overcome drug dealers at all times,” Abdallah was quoted as saying.
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