A34-year-old soldier, Yusuf Gongpolai Adams has been arrested by operatives of the Bauchi State Police Command with 81 blocks suspected to be cannabis sativa popularly called Indian Hemp.
The soldier was arrested while travelling on the Bauchi-Darazo Road on his way to deliver the confiscated items to the buyer when he was arrested.
Bauchi State Police Commissioner, Umar Mamman Sanda, paraded the soldier and other suspects at a news conference at the Command headquarters Bauchi.
He said the operatives of the ‘Safer Highway’ Patrol team of the Command intercepted a Toyota Highlander driven by Yusuf Gongpolai Adams who later introduced himself as a serving military personnel in Abia State.
The commissioner, said “The suspect is attached to the Nigerian Army, 145 Battalion, Abia State, and he is presently on a development course at the Nigerian Army School of Environmental and Science Technology, Benue State”.
He said, “A thorough search was conducted on the vehicle and 81 parcels of dry leaves suspected to be cannabis were found in his possession, one pair of army uniform, a helmet and charms amongst others”.
Sanda said that the suspect would be handed over to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as soon as investigations were completed.
However, the suspect, while fielding questions from journalists, said he was not aware that he was carrying the contraband in his vehicle at the time of the arrest.
He said “I am a Lance Corporal in the Nigerian Army. One of my friends (he refused to disclose his name) begged me to help him deliver the vehicle to someone in the state, he told me that he had sold the vehicle to him but he could not come to Benue to pick it”.
Probed further by journalists, he said “I trusted him because we have been friends for a long time, I did not search the vehicle, I just drove it, mine was just to deliver it and go back. Not until it was searched and the things we discovered, I never knew what was inside”.
He however said that he had got across to the friend to tell him what has happened but he was yet to come over to Bauchi to see him.
“I regret what happened, I made a serious mistake by not checking to know the content of the vehicle before driving it to Bauchi”.
