Police Arrest Fake Soldier With Truck-load of Cannabis

Emmanuel Abiodun

Current gist has it that police have arrested a fake soldier and impounded a truck-load of Indian hemp on Ajuwon- Akute Road in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, according to the New Telegraph.

The Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, yesterday paraded the fake soldier, identified as Emmanuel Abiodun, at the state command headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta. Ali, who also paraded 34 suspected criminals arrested in connection with armed robbery, cultism and kidnapping, expressed the readiness of the command to provide security for residents during and beyond the Yuletide.

He disclosed that the 29-year-old fake soldier, who dressed in Army camouflage uniform and armed with two toy guns, was nabbed at the Redemption Camp, on the
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The commissioner said men of the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), who acted on a tip-off, impounded the truck-load of Indian hemp on Friday.

He added that as the security agents closed in on the
truck on Ajuwon-Akute Road, the driver and others in the vehicle jumped out and fled. Ali said when the truck was eventually searched, 297 bags of weeds suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered.

Speaking with journalists, the fake soldier confessed to the crime. The suspect said he bought the Army uniform in Aba, Abia State for N3,500.

Abiodun claimed that he had acting as security escort to pastors in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and had escorted a pastor to the Redemption Camp before he was arrested last Thursday. He said:

“I had come out to receive a call outside the Redemption Camp when a retired general saw me and accosted me and challenged me. Later I was arrested and handed over to the police.”

Abiodun, who claimed to be a merchant Navy, however, said he did not regret his action because “I had always wanted to be a soldier”.