The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said its operatives have arrested a wanted Lagos drug baron, Alhaji Sulaiman Jimoh, popularly known as Temo, after many years of evading arrest and wearing the toga of invincibility.
Temo, 57 years old, alleged to be the overall head of the Mushin, Lagos drug cartel, was arrested by NDLEA at his enclave after an initial resistance from him and his horde of hoodlums.
This was announced on Wednesday in a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director of Media and Advocacy.
Babafemi said the NDLEA, in the last two years, had intercepted large consignments of illicit drugs worth billions of naira owned by Temo but has remained largely evasive while a few encounters with him and his armed gangs in his Mushin enclave had resulted in gunfight.
NDLEA in the statement disclosed that 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 28th January 2024; two truck-loads of the same substance weighing 8,852kg intercepted at Eleko beach, Lekki Lagos on 4th May 2023 and 252kg of Loud seized from his enclave in Mushin on Wednesday 26th July 2023.
According to the statement, Temo’s men had engaged NDLEA operatives in gunfight in the last two encounters.
“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 NDLEA’s 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,” part of the statement read.
In his reaction to the arrest of Temo, the 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.
Marwa 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 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.
