53-year-old man arrested with 218kg of marijuana in Niger State

The Niger State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested 53-year-old Vwang David with 335 blocks of 218 kilogrammes of weeds suspected to be marijuana.  

David was arrested by the NDLEA operatives at Mokwa after allegedly making spirited effort to escape the long hands of the law. The suspect, according to officials of the NDLEA in Minna, had refused to stop when flagged down at Jebba control post resulting in contact being made to the Mokwa station but luck ran out for the fake soldier when his vehicle, a Toyota Camry, crashed.  

Men of the NDLEA were reported to have arrived at the scene of the accident where David was rescued from the damaged car. A search on the vehicle revealed the hard drugs neatly loaded in the booth of the car leading to the arrest of the suspect.The state Commander of the NDLEA, Mrs Egwunwoke Ekaete, who paraded the suspect before newsmen on Tuesday in Minna said his arrest was as a result of intelligence at the disposal of the operatives.  

Mrs Ekaete said Vwang had been passing through the route for sometime, adding that he was always in military uniform when going but dressed in mufti on the return journey, a development that aroused the suspicion of the police men. The suspect told newsmen that: “I am not the owner of the car, my friend sent me to deliver the car to his wife in Minna.  “I did not know what was in the booth of the car. I have never seen Indian hemp in my life, this is my first time of seeing it.  “I regret my action, it is my friend that pushed me into this trouble,” Vwang said, pointing out that his friend who was in another car “took off immediately they arrested me”. 

Vwang said he took off from Lafenwa in Ogun State and was heading for Minna in Niger State.  Mrs Ekaete said the suspect would be charged to court on the completion of investigation into the case.