FOOD STUFF SELLER CAUGHT WITH ARMS

55-year-old foodstuff merchant captured with containers of catridges

Agents of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) captured a man with 250 cartridges covered up in a few containers in Benue State.

The suspect is a 55-year-old foodstuff trader situated in Jalingo, Taraba State goes constantly to Onitsha to to buy his wares, which he offers at a business sector in Jalingo. He told  our correspondents that authorities of the NDLEA caught the vehicle he was going in at Alaide in Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.

"I was coming back from Onitsha where I went to purchase foodstuff which I offer in Taraba when the NDLEA officers captured me in Alaide with containers of cartridges which some vigilante people told me to purchase for them," the suspect said.

The suspect, a father of five children additionally said he was diabetic, informing security officials of an  injury on his feet, regretting his activity. "I'm so humiliated. My wife and kids are not pleased with me."

The suspect included that it was the first time when he ventured into the arms business which he acquired from Onitsha market at the rate of N45, 000 after buying  foodstuff for his fundamental business.

The NDLEA State Commander, Florence Ezeonye, said the suspect would be given over to the proper security office. On how the suspect was gotten, Ms Ezeonye clarified that her smart officers on stop-and-search operation at the Alaide territory seized the foodstuff merchant after they found the substance with the containers arranged under the seat of the bus. She additionally uncovered that the suspect had a blended parentage - an Igbo father and a Jukun mother - so he could communicate in Hausa and Igbo dialects smoothly, favorable position which he used to avert security suspicions at check points.

"My officers saw that he was pushing the containers which he covered up under the vehicle seats with his feet as they were on  inspection and when they demanded to see what was hidden in the containers, he alighted from the bus and began to speak to them in Hausa dialect. The suspect further attempted to persuade them that he just supplies soup ingridients to clients in Taraba however it worked out that he was conveying arms. My men discovered that 250 bits of cartridges were hidden in the 15 containers belonging  to the suspect." she said.