BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
A businesswoman heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Umrah (Lesser Hajj) was arrested on November 24, 2021, by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja for ingesting 80 pellets of cocaine.
NDLEA made this known in a statement by its Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
The 46-year-old Mrs. Adisa Afusat Olayinka who lives in Ibafo, Ogun State hails from Ilorin, in Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State.
She was arrested at the boarding screening area of the airport during an outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight 1418.
She was subsequently taken into custody where she excreted 80 pellets of the illicit drug between November 24 and 27, 2021.
She claimed during interviews that she saved N2.5million over a period of one year to buy the drugs in bits from six different people at Akala, Mushin area of Lagos.
Also in October 2021, the NDLEA arrested 663 suspects in massive raids of drug dens in the country, including the notorious joint in Akala, Mushin in Lagos.
The agency said the raids done in conjunction with soldiers intercepted various drugs with a cumulative weight of more than 153, 256.876 kilograms.
Bababfemi said that among the 663 suspects arrested were three impostors, who claimed to be a youth corps member, a police officer and a soldier.
“In Lagos, the notorious drug haven, Akala in Mushin area, was on Friday, October 15, raided by a combined team of 70 NDLEA operatives and 30 soldiers, in a joint operation code-named ‘Operation Still Waters.’
“Not less than 27 suspects were arrested, while various drugs such as cocaine, Tramadol, Rohypnol and cannabis sativa, with a cumulative weight of 2,463.876 kg, were seized.
“A day earlier, operatives also raided drug joints in Ojo and Maryland areas of the state (Lagos), where six persons were arrested and different quantities of drugs seized.
“This followed another raid of Alhaji Lasisi Street, Idioro, Mushin, as well as Okota in Oshodi-Isolo area during which 12 suspects were arrested and over 165kg of assorted illicit drugs recovered,” he said.
Mushin, to an average Lagosian, is a crime-personified settlement.
Mean and debasing, but more demeaning is Akala Street, which earns its notoriety for homegrown criminals, street urchins, drug peddlers, armed robbers, hoodlums, bandits and social miscreants (popularly called Area Boys) of varying species.
Tucked behind Adedoja and Igbarere streets, off Ogunmokun Road, Mushin, Lagos State, is the dreaded street called Akala.
Indeed, a first-time visitor without the courage to ask for its exact location from residents would need a compass to separate it from other adjoining streets.
In those days when it gained notoriety as a haven of hard drugs and spine-chilling crimes, it would be foolhardy for pedestrians to go near its entrance.
“Akala is like the Chicago of Lagos. All manner of crime is commonplace there. From physical assault to bodily harm; from rape to murder of police officer; from smash and grab to intermittent house-breaking; from hemp smoking to drug peddling – Akala is really a black spot
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Dotted by swarms of off-putting miscreants and scumbags, even the valiant among men would need more than guts to pass by the hoodlums.
So bad it was then, that you would need to either cough Psalm 45 or hurriedly recite the entire ‘Qurisiyu’ in the Quran to have a safe passage in the dreadful street.
At the height of its infamy, the biblical execution of two robbers with Jesus Christ on the cross at Golgotha was re-enacted when members of the Otunba Gani Adams-led faction of the Oodua People’s Congress routed the ‘boys’ out of their enclave and apprehended a suspected, notorious robber who had turned the street into his den from where he spilled hell on residents.
Akala holds an unenviable record of thriving in both drug-related and other criminal activities in Lagos State.
Stories of criminal escapades in the area are better imagined. It is such that security operatives aptly branded it “headquarters of crime” in Lagos.
In March 2018, the police in Lagos had decided to take the bull by the horns.
The then state police boss, Imohimi Edgal, personally led a formidable team of his men to restore discipline in the area.
This was after an earlier operation by the police in the area ended up in a bloody encounter.
A team of policemen led by the former Area Commander, Mushin, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Akinbayo Olasoji, had accosted some drug peddlers ferrying large quantities of assorted drugs in a bullion van. The audacious criminals stoutly resisted the police team by firing at police operatives.
The clash subsequently created tension in Idi-Oro and Akala areas as business activities were grounded. Some residents, especially youths, reportedly attacked the police team with stones and broken bottles.
Later, the police returned with heavy reinforcement and engaged the hoodlums in a shootout after which a police Sergeant and three others were killed.
The police Sergeant, identified as Abam Mohammed, was hit by a bullet during the encounter. He was rushed to the Mainland General Hospital, Yaba, where he later died.
The raid of criminal hideouts in these areas became pertinent because of the manner criminals living among the people attack residents and law enforcement agents.
Based on these, the visibly rattled Edgal ordered a raid of identified criminal enclaves in Akala. During the raid, the criminal elements resisted the police by hurling stones and different types of missiles at them.
They broke windscreens of cars parked along the road while they were fleeing from the scene.
This did not, however, deter the police from arresting 255 suspects comprising 246 males and nine females.
The police also confiscated 39 big bags of Indian hemp and recovered two pump-action rifles and ammunition in the process.
For more than 20 years, Akala has become a notorious coven for all sorts of criminal activities, ranging from cult killings, armed robbery, rape, illegal possession and sales of arms and illegal drug trade.
At the centre of these criminal activities is the sale of hard drugs, which has continued to induce crime and aggravate insecurity in Akala and its environs. Their activities have become a nightmare to not only security operatives but also residents who are constantly at the receiving end of the crises.
In a bid to sanitise the vicinity, security operatives, especially the police, employed strict measures at various times.
One of the successes of the clampdown by the police in Akala was the arrest of a 37-year-old notorious armed robber, Lanre Olowojobi, aka Pumpy, in May 2017.
Olowojobi who was arrested by operatives of the Lagos State Taskforce revealed that apart from carrying out robbery operations, he had raped over 30 women in three years.
Also on October 7, 2017, police in Lagos and operatives of the task force, during the enforcement operations around Akala, on the directive of Edgal, arrested 50 suspected notorious criminals with 48 bags of illicit drugs.
Ironically, women have become key players in criminal activities, especially the illegal drug trade.
A resident, who identified himself as Yusuf Fatai, told The Point that the area had become dangerous at night.
“There is no time in a week that we will not hear of robbery incidents here. This area becomes a business spot from 7 pm for these boys who rob people, ‘’ he said.
Another resident, Baki Saheed, lamented, “For many years, Akala has been a criminal stronghold where gangs hold sway. They used the proceeds to acquire arms and ammunition.”
Akala is, by all standards, a notorious rundown area of the megacity called Lagos. Dotted with substandard houses, dilapidated infrastructure and filth, it is wholly characterised by crime and criminality. Akala also lacks tenure security.
It was gathered that the relatively cheap rent in that area of Mushin and the influx of people to Lagos at the country’s independence in 1960, made people migrate in large numbers to sub-urban communities like Akala.
The resultant effect was overcrowding, turning the area to a haven for many newcomers to Mushin, Lagos.
The Point was informed that as a result of the incessant drift of people to the area, poor sanitation and inadequate housing soon led to poor living conditions in the area.
With the steady rise of industrialisation within the environment, Mushin became one of the largest beneficiaries of the development.
The major local commercial enterprises at that time included spinning and weaving of cotton, shoe manufacturing, bicycle and motorised-cycle assembly plants and the production of beverages.
That was at a period when agriculture was known to be the major source of revenue and the need for a large central market was desirable.
However, the economic downturn of the early 80s that hit the country dealt a devastating blow on all commercial activities. The community that was once known as home to a popular hospital as well educational institutions began to experience decay in social values.
Some workers, who experienced job losses, following the close down of the major industries in the state, soon took to petty crimes to make ends meet. They began to trade in hard drugs, engage in burglary and other vices only known to those in the jungles.
This was how both the laid-off workers and the spent forces began to gather in Akala, using the nearby rail line as a meeting point. From smash and grab to outright robbery, the nocturnal activities of the “happening guys” soon attracted other locals, who saw vice as a means of earning a living.
From Coker area enroute Ogunmokun and Post Office axis, the youths took over from their older comrades-in-crime as age got the better of them.
Further investigation by The Point revealed that youths living in the adjoining streets soon formed their own gangs, having learnt the dubious trade from their seniors at Akala.
The only caveat was that they had to pay ransom to their “Big brothers” at Akala, then seen as the haven of thieves. The romance between these colonies of light-fingered youths soon ended.
Further checks revealed that members of the Mushin gangs later infiltrated the rank of the National Union of Road Transport Workers that today serve as their umbrella body, since they do not have any visible means of livelihood.
It was also learnt that Akala soon gained notoriety within the Mushin community as residents could, at any point in time, be woken up to the noise of fighting by street gangs.
Such fights usually resulted in the death of some gang members. The local police have consistently battled the gangs to no avail as almost every street in Mushin parades a cult group or gangsters.
“One thing about the gangsters is that they do not have the fear of God. They mock the law most of the time. The presence of the police patrol team has nothing to do with their criminal intentions. To them, there is no stopping the moving train as far as commission of crime is concerned,” revealed Shomefun Agbabiaka, a resident along Itire Road, near Zone D Police Station.
A sociologist, Idowu Oladimeji , who once lived on the street for three years, said, “Akala is like the Chicago of Lagos. All manner of crime is commonplace there. From physical assault to bodily harm; from rape to murder of police officer; from smash and grab to intermittent house-breaking; from hemp smoking to drug peddling – Akala is really a black spot. Entering into the street is like taking a risk in sadistic pleasure.”
However, the spokesperson for the Lagos Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, declined to confirm or deny if the command is overwhelmed by the criminals at Akala Street.
