Customs intercepts FUNAAB bus carrying 295kg of Indian hemp

Ogun State Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said it intercepted a Toyota Coaster bus laden with concealed wraps of Indian hemp around Imeko Afon area of the Idiroko border.

The bus belongs to the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB).

Controller of the command, Sani Madugu, on Tuesday announced that the driver of the vehicle, Abolade Bolaji, had been arrested.

He said customs operatives on patrol August 12, intercepted the vehicle and subsequently apprehended the driver of the bus with number plate: FUNAAB 50 B-100 FG.

Madugu said 211 parcels of cannabis were discovered in the bus.

Madugu, at a joint briefing with the state Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Bala Fagge, said: “The suspect, Abolade Bolaji, was caught in the Imeko border town while conveying the illegal drug into the country”.

“He concealed parcels of Indian hemp (cannabis) under the bags of rice he was conveying with the vehicle to Abeokuta, when nemesis caught up with him.
“Our operatives on patrol stopped the vehicle and searched it, only to discover the illicit drug.”

Madugu later handed over the narcotic to the NDLEA for further investigation.

Fagge, who hailed the NCS for the feat, noted that Indian hemp was now being cultivated in neighbouring countries, adding that the cannabis recovered from the suspect weighed 295 kilorammes.

FUNAAB in a statement by its Head of the Public Relations Directorate, Emi Alawode, said it would also probe the matter.

It reads: “The attention of the university has been drawn to an unfortunate incident that was said to have occurred on Saturday, August 12, 2017, in which one of its drivers, using the university’s official vehicle in his possession, was said to have been apprehended along Olorunda, Ogun State, by law enforcement agents, for allegedly being in possession of substances suspected to have been smuggled.
“Already, the university has put the necessary machinery in place to carry out proper investigations to ascertain what actually transpired on the said date on one hand, while law enforcement agents on the other hand would be allowed and supported to perform their statutory duties in the overall interest of all citizens.”