The Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested nine Ghanaians for smuggling in about 201 bags of Indian hemp (cannabis sativa) into the country.
The state commandant, Edenabu Okoro Eweka, said the suspects smuggled the goods into the country with the aid of their Nigerian counterpart, adding that the operation was intelligently driven with the support of the Nigerian Navy. He explained that the major work was executed by the marine unit of the NSCDC, which followed an Intel for two weeks before making the arrest.
The suspects; Victor Musa, Freeman Gasie, Adotete Joseph, Moses Sottie, Christian Tette, Kabu Okonipa, Stephen Sottie, Daniel Toyokpti, and Kabu Natte, are all fishermen and Ghanaians.
“The suspects loaded a ship with all of the product with the hope of smuggling it into the country, but they didn’t know that our Ghanaian counterpart had informed us and we followed up. From our investigation, the hemp is worth ₦200 million in the market.
“The suspects were traced with the aid of two of the 17 boats that were recently donated to us. They were caught when they ran out of fuel and one of them strolled into the country to get fuel for their boat. It was then our officers descended on them,” he stated.
