Troops arrest suspect for smuggling N0.44 million seed planters in Yobe
Tada Juthan, Damaturu
Troops of the Forward Operations Base, Nigerian Army, have arrested a suspect for smuggling 11 units of agricultural seed planters at Potiskum in Yobe State.
The arrest of 47-year-old Auwal Sule was made by the Army at a checkpoint along the Potiskum-Azare Road.
Sule, however, claimed that he bought the seed planters at his shop located at the Potiskum main market for N40, 000 each.
Governor Mai Mala Buni had in July this year directed the military, police, and other security agencies to arrest persons who divert or smuggle any of the 71,835 units of distributed agricultural inputs, including the 240, 000 cultivators, harvesters, and rakes.
According to him, the agricultural empowerment inputs were procured for N14 billion from Turkey.
When the suspect was asked what he was carrying in the vehicle, he told the soldiers that he was transporting items for sale in Kano.
On citing the seed planters in Sule’s vehicle, the troops at the checkpoint handed him over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for further investigation and prosecution in court.
