The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a former Boko Haram terrorist group fighter, Alayi Madu who has been rehabilitated for allegedly selling drugs.
The agency said it also arrested Baale Akunola Adebayo’, a traditional ruler of Kajola, a border town between Ondo and Edo States, in connection with the alleged crime.
This was in a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Mr. Femi Babafemi in Abuja.
Babafemi said that the traditional authorities are being held in Kajola.
He said the arrests were part of an ongoing operation to clean up illegal drugs across the country ahead of the next election.
He also said that NDLEA operatives on Friday, March 10, raided Kajola forest in Kajola community, a border town between Edo and Ondo states, where they destroyed three cannabis farms, covering 39.801546 hectares.
“A farm owner who claimed to be Ba’ale from Kajola, Akinola Adebayo, 35, was arrested at his farm at 2:30am.
“Two other suspects believed to be workers: Arikuyeri Abdulrahman, 23 and Habibu Ologun, 25, were also arrested in a hut near the farm.
“Also, 26-year-old Alayi Madu, who was a Boko Haram fighter for 15 years before surrendering to the Nigerian military in 2021, was intercepted by NDLEA operatives.”
Babafemi said the suspect was arrested on Thursday, March 9 along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway with 10 kilograms of skunk.
According to him, he said he bought it in Ibadan, Oyo state and took the shipment hidden in a sack to Maiduguri, Borno.
“In his statement, Madu said he is from Banki town in Borno and joined the notorious terrorist organization in 2006 at the age of nine.
“He said he repented and surrendered to the military in 2021, after which he underwent a rehabilitation and deradicalization process at Umaru Shehu rehabilitation center, Maiduguri and Malam Sidi de-radicalization center, Gombe, before being discharged after six months.
“After that, he went to Ibadan, Oyo state where he worked as a commercial motorcyclist (Okada driver) before he entered the drug trade and was finally arrested on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway,” he said.