Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA have arrested the overall head of the Mushin, Lagos drug cartel, Alhaji Sulaiman Jimoh (alias Olowoidiogede, populary known as Temo.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Wednesday the 57-year-old drug baron who has been on the run for many years was arrested at his hideout in Lagos after an initial resistance from him and his horde of hoodlums.
He said though the agency had intercepted large consignments of illicit drugs worth billions of naira owned by Temo in the last two years, he has remained largely evasive.
NDLEA said a few encounters with him and his armed gangs in his Mushin enclave had resulted in gunfight.
“Indeed, in the last two encounters, his men engaged NDLEA operatives in gunfight,” the agency said while explaining how the drug kingpin was eventually nabbed in an operation involving over 50 of its operatives last Monday.
NDLEA said: “The drug kingpin was very notorious for always being on the move to evade arrest but with persistence and determination of the Agency aided by modern tools and intelligence, the concerted effort to get him paid off at 10am on Monday 22nd July 2024 when NDLEAs surveillance teams on his trail tracked and pinned him down at Igbarere street, Mushin.
“A reinforcement of about 50 operatives was immediately mobilized to the area while he was attempting to escape in a Mercedes Benz SUV GLE 350 marked 01G-300G.
“His attempt to escape by mobilizing hoodlums to engage and distract the operatives, however, failed after which 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 the suspect was found in.”
The agency listed some of the recent drug consignments shipped into the country by Temo but seized by its operatives to include: a 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 Ojuelegba area of Lagos in the early hours of Sunday 28th January 2024.
Another two truck-loads of the same substance weighing 8,852kg owned by Teno were intercepted at Eleko beach, Lekki Lagos on 4th May 2023.
In the same vein, a 252kg of Loud was also seized from his enclave in Mushin on Wednesday 26th July 2023.
In his reaction to the arrest of Temo, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the officers and men of the Lagos State Command, Special Monitoring Task Force and other formations tasked with the assignment of getting Temo arrested for their resilience, vigilance, and professionalism.
He urged them to intensify the heat on all drug cartels wherever they are located.
“I’m particularly delighted because the arrest was eventually effected in his enclave without any casualty 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 dont opt out now, well get them because were just steps away from their doorsteps and more importantly they can only run, they cant hide forever,” Marwa stated.
