The Sun News Online writes
They are fishermen, but they were recently caught while engaged in some fishy business, in a matter that had absolutely nothing to do with fishing.
Moses Sottie, 52, Stephen Sottie, 25, and Kabu Natte, 34, are among nine Ghanaian fishermen recently arrested by the Marine Squad of the Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Their offence? They were allegedly conveying about 201 bags of Indian hemp (cannabis sativa) into the country.
According to the state commandant, Edenabu Okoro Eweka, the suspects smuggled the goods through the Nigerian shores with the aid of their Nigerian counterparts but were spotted when they ran short of fuel. It was then that the Marine unit of NSCDC, which said it had been working on intelligence for two weeks, moved in and apprehended the suspects.
“The suspects loaded a ship with all of the product with the hope of smuggling it into the country but they didn’t know that our Ghanaian counterparts had informed us and we followed up. From our investigation, the hemp is worth N200 million in the market.
“The suspects were traced with the aid of two of the 17 boats that were recently donated to us. They were caught when they ran out of fuel and one of them strolled into the country to get fuel for their boat. It was then our officers descended on them,” he stated.
Eweka continued said although it was not within the jurisdiction of the agency to prosecute drug matters, “the interwoven connectivity between drug addiction and government’s critical infrastructure necessitated the arrest.”
Explaining how they were caught, Moses, the oldest of the team, said they were having a bad day as fishermen in the coast of Accra when one Mr Peter approached them to deliver some goods to his Nigerian business counterpart, Robert.
