From Godwin Tsa Abuja
After hours of gun duels, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) subdued hoodlums working for a wanted drug baron, Alhaji Suleiman Jimoh (also known as Temo), who was subsequently arrested.
The 57-year-old Jimoh (alias Olowoidiogede), who for many years has cultivated an image of invincibility, is the overall head of the Mushin, Lagos, drug cartel.
He was apprehended at his enclave after initial resistance from him and his horde of hoodlums.
A statement by the Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Wednesday, revealed that in the last two years, the NDLEA had intercepted large consignments of illicit drugs worth billions of naira owned by Temo. However, he had remained largely evasive, while a few encounters with him and his armed gangs in his Mushin enclave had resulted in gunfights.
Some of the recent seizures of his shipments include: 14,524.8 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis sativa, smuggled into Lagos from Ghana in two trucks and a J5 bus intercepted at the Ojuelegba area of Lagos in the early hours of Sunday, 28 January 2024; two truckloads of the same substance weighing 8,852 kg intercepted at Eleko beach, Lekki, Lagos, on 4 May 2023; and 252 kg of Loud seized from his enclave in Mushin on Wednesday, 26 July 2023. Indeed, in the last two encounters, his men engaged NDLEA operatives in gunfights.
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The drug kingpin was notorious for always being on the move to evade arrest. However, with the persistence and determination of the agency, aided by modern tools and intelligence, the concerted effort to apprehend him paid off at 10 am on Monday, 22 July 2024, when NDLEA surveillance teams on his trail tracked and pinned him down at Igbarere Street, Mushin.
A reinforcement of about 100 operatives was immediately mobilised to the area while he was attempting to escape in a Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 SUV marked 01G-300G.
His attempt to escape by mobilising hoodlums to engage and distract the operatives failed. He was overpowered and whisked away from the chaotic scene, while his men surrendered to the superior firepower of the anti-narcotic agents, who also succeeded in recovering the Mercedes-Benz SUV he was found in.
In his reaction to the arrest of Temo, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Marwa (retd), commended the officers and men of the Lagos State Command, Special Monitoring Task Force, and other formations tasked with apprehending Temo for their resilience, vigilance, and professionalism. He urged them to intensify the pressure on all drug cartels wherever they are located. “I’m particularly delighted because the arrest was eventually effected in his enclave without any casualties, despite the attack on our men.
“This is, therefore, a clear message to others still involved in this criminal trade of illicit drugs that if they don’t opt out now, we’ll get them because we’re just steps away from their doorsteps and, more importantly, they can only run, they can’t hide forever,” Marwa stated.