Yusuf Yarkadir, a 90-year-old man who had been involved in the sale of cannabis sativa also known as Indian hemp, a hard drug, to youths in Yarkadir, a community in Rimi Local Government Area of Katsina State has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
The nonagenarian had been involved in the ignoble trade in the illicit drug for eight years before his arrest, according to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director, Media and Advocacy.
The old man is awaiting a date with the law, following his arrest on Wednesday, July 7.
Yarkadir has reportedly confessed to trading in the prohibited drug for a period of eight years, but says its high demand by youths in the area was too tempting for him to exit the trade.
He had yet to open up to narcotic detectives on his source of supply, even as he says his arrest signal the end of his trade, which he claimed to have earlier made several attempts to discard without success.
Two days before his arrest, operatives of the NDLEA in Ondo State had arrested two teenage siblings along with other suspects for dealing in assorted illicit drugs in the state capital.
Onyema Sunday, aged16 and his 15-year-old sister, Onyema Amaka, were arrested at Car Street area of Akure, the state capital, with 1.894kilograms of Tramadol.
Also on Monday, July 5, 23-year-old Kazeem Oluyede was arrested at Eru Oba area of Akure with 300grams of cannabis and 3grams of methamphetamine, just as a woman, Maryam Musa, aged 35, was also nabbed at Igbara-Oke, Ifedore local council area of the state with 5.5kilograms of cannabis.
Also in Ondo state, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence reports on Wednesday, July 7,stormed the Ogbese market, in Akure North Local Government Area, where to persons identified as Jalamia Ochonogor and Austin Uzoka were arrested with 63kilograms of cannabis.
In Bauchi State, at least seven persons have been arrested and 28.091kilograms of assorted drugs such as Diazepam, Exol-5, Rophynol, Tramadol, Codeine, and cannabis recovered from them.
Those arrested in two separate raids by narcotic operatives, were identified as Sunday Obi, Abba Abdullahi, Samuel John, Chijioke Agu, Sani Musa, Alhaji Alhaji Baffa, and Abubakar Saidu.
Meanwhile, different quantities of illicit drugs going to the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand have been intercepted and seized by narcotic officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations, DOGI, attached to some courier companies in Lagos.
In one of the courier firms, 400 grams of Ketamine hidden in walls of hair attachments carton coming from Cameroon and heading to the US was seized.
Others include, 30grams of Tramadol concealed in female headgear coming from Onitsha, Anambra state and going to the UK; 200grams of Ketamine from Cameroon going to USA; and 400grams of Methamphetamine from Asaba, Delta State en-route New Zealand.
