Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested the most wanted drug lord in Lagos State, Sulaiman Jimoh, popularly known as Temo.

NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, revealed this in a statement on Wednesday, noting that the 57-year-old was arrested at his hideout after an initial resistance from him and his hoodlums.

The spokesperson stated that in the last two years, the NDLEA had intercepted large consignments of illicit drugs worth billions of naira owned by Jimoh but he remained largely evasive while a few encounters with him and his armed gangs in his Mushin enclave had resulted in gunfight.

“Some of the recent seizures of his shipments 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 28thJanuary 2024; two truck-loads of the same substance weighing 8,852kg intercepted at Eleko beach, Lekki Lagos on 4thMay 2023 and 252kg of Loud seized from his enclave in Mushin on Wednesday 26thJuly 2023. Indeed, in the last two encounters, his men engaged NDLEA operatives in gunfight.

“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 22ndJuly 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.“

In his reaction to the arrest, 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 the suspect arrested for their resilience, vigilance, and professionalism. (The Guardian)