A 35-year-old Man, Ayodele Osuya, arrested with 228 kilograms of substances suspected to be Indian hemp, by Ondo State Command of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has allegedly confessed to why he ventured into the illicit business.
After he was paraded by the agency in Akure, the suspect said: “My brother, I went into the business to fend for my family.”
Osuya said he was kidnapped sometime ago and had to sell all he had to pay for ransom demanded by his captors before his release.
“I’m only trying to help my family. I have nobody to help me. So, that is why I got myself involved in this business, to cater for my family.
“I just started this year, because last year, Fulani herdsmen kidnapped me. I sold all I had, including my building, my vehicle.
“Because I have nobody that could help me, I had to sell what I have to free myself. I paid the ransom from the proceed of my property that I sold.”
He noted that he was not the owner of the vehicle in which the Indian hemp was discovered.
Earlier, the state Commandant of NDLEA, Mr. Kayode Raji, said: “We have been on his trail for a very long time and at a time, we also suspected that he was suspicious and we thought he got wind that he was being trailed, so we relaxed the manhunt.
“But at the end of the day, on March 29, he was nabbed at a place called Quarter Guard in Akure, Ondo State.
“And a compressed cannabis, carefully stacked in the booth of the car, about 309 pieces of compressed cannabis, of about 228kg.”
