A member of the Federal House of Representatives and Governorship aspirant of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) from Zamfara state Alhaji Abdul-aziz Yari Abubakar has said that he was neither aware nor involve in the alleged trafficking of ten bags of Indian hemp found in his car. He said his Personal Assistant, Nuruddeen Ibrahim that was arrested in Auchi, Edo state with 10 bags of Indian hemp in the legislator’s official car and paraded by the police in the Edo state capital, Benin City did not consult him before he illegally took his car and stocked it with illicit drugs.
Nuruddeen Ibrahim was arrested in Auchi in a National Assembly official car with registration number FL 142 REP stocked with ten bags of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp when he was driving towards Abuja. The suspect was immediately transferred to the state police command headquarters in Benin City from where he was paraded before newsmen by the state commissioner of police, Mr Emmanuel Udeochi.CP Udeochi told newsmen in Benin City while parading the suspect that Nuruddeen went to a village near Auchi where he allegedly bought 50 bags of Indian hemp and decided to stock the official legislator’s car he was driving with ten bags of the substance. He said the suspect was about leaving the village when some people volunteered information to the local police in the area on the movements and activities of the suspect.
He said policemen were alerted and the suspect was immediately arrested as he was trying to drive out of Auchi. CP Emmanuel Udeochi said when the car was searched, ten bags of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp were found stocked in the booth of the car. He said the car and the suspected Indian hemp have since been taken into custody while the suspect is being questioned by detectives over the alleged drug deal.
Answering questions from Sunday Trust, Nuruddeen Ibrahim said he is the Personal Assistant to Alhaji Abdul-aziz Yari Abubakar of the House of Representatives and that the car he used in trafficking the illicit drugs belong to the legislator. He said he has been working with the legislator for the past three years. Nuruddeen however, said Alhaji Abdul-aziz was not aware that he took the car and engaged in drug trafficking as the legislator is in Saudi Arabia when the incident happened.
Nuruddeen said this was his second time of trafficking in Indian hemp and that he went to the village and bought 50 bags of Indian hemp at the sum of N50,000. He said he has it on authority that those that sold the Indian hemp were the same people that tipped the police about his movement. He said he was attracted to trafficking in Indian hemp because of the gains in it. He lamented that the legislator may not ever trust him again because he betrayed his trust.
In a one page press statement signed and made available to Sunday Trust by Alhaji Sa’ad Faruk Muhammad, the Special Assistant to Alhaji Abdul-aziz Yari Abubakar, the legislature said he does not condone criminal activities and so the suspect is on his own.
“My attention has been drawn to a publication by a number of national dailies on the report of the Edo state police that one Nuruddeen Ibrahim, my Personal Assistant was arrested at Auchi carrying 10 bags of Indian hemp locked in the boot of a Peugeot car. Even though the person made a confessional statement that I am currently in Saudi Arabia for the 2010 Holy pilgrimage and not in anyway connected to the heinous act, there is the need to further reaffirm my absolute lack of knowledge of the happening.
“My Special Assistant, Alhaji Sa’ad Faruk Muhammad who is the custodian of all official matters in my office has not been in Abuja since on the 30th October, 2010 over the demise of his wife. Nuruddeen Ibrahim therefore, used the advantage of our absence and illegally accessed the key to the said vehicle and perpetrated the act,” the letter read in part.
But barely two weeks after the arrest of Nuruddeen by the police, he is yet to be handed over to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) even as the police in Edo could not charge him to court. NDLEA head of public affairs, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyeju said though the agency has very good working relationship with other security agencies including the police that provide for the transfer of drug suspects to NDLEA, Nuruddeen Ibrahim was not transferred to the agency by the police.
Mr. Mitchell said the arrest of the legislative aide is part of the tricks being used by drug traffickers to traffic in drugs. He said the agency had recently arrested a Nigerian carrying Cote-D’Ivoire international passport was at the weekend at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos with Thailand cocaine. The suspect, who said his Nigerian Igbo name, is Anayo Odumegu was arrested with a Cote-D’Ivoire passport bearing Alla Kouassi Alphonse but with his passport photograph. The 35 years old was nabbed at the airport on arrival after he tested positive to drugs ingestion.
Mr Mitchel Ofoyeju said that preliminary investigation by the agency revealed that the suspect is a professional drug trafficker with established contacts in Thailand and China, adding, “He tested positive to drug ingestion at the weekend during inward screening of Emirate flight passengers from the Philippines. Some wraps of the powdery substance that he ingested have tested positive to cocaine. This is the first time a passenger coming from the Philippine will be arrested with drugs at the Lagos airport.”
Speaking with Sunday Trust in a telephone interview, NDLEA Commander at the Lagos airport, Alhaji Hamza Umar said the suspect allegedly concealed his identity in committing the alleged act. “He is a Nigerian from Ihiala, Anambra State but was caught with Cote-D’Ivoire international passport. The case is already under investigation. His nationality will not in anyway affect our investigation.
“Our preliminary investigation shows that the suspect is an independent and professional drug smuggler. He is believed to have facilitated drug transactions in Thailand and China. It was also gathered that he solely financed the current drug deal. He confessed to ingesting 60 wraps of cocaine while ten thousand dollars ($10,000) cash suspected to be illicit drug proceeds was also recovered from him. He told us he lived in China between 2002 and 2006 before relocating to Manila, Republic of Philippines. He is married to a Filipino and has two children,” Hamza said.
Hamza said the suspect wrote in his statement to the agency that he is under financial pressure as the breadwinner of his extended family to provide a lot of money for them. “I ingested 60 pieces of cocaine. My father is dead and the family looks onto me for their upkeep. I actually wanted to settle my mother and younger ones but I was caught in the process. I feel very bad now,” the suspect’s statement read in part.
The Chairman and Chief Executive of the Agency, Ahmadu Giade described the arrest as a warning to drug traffickers. According to the NDLEA boss, no route is safe for the criminal trade. “We are adequately prepared to apprehend drug traffickers and seize their drugs. This arrest is a strong warning to drug traffickers that no route is safe for them. We shall remain on the alert because as they are changing their routes, we are equally perfecting our control techniques,” Giade warned.
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