A 48-year-old woman arrested for allegedly supplying cannabis to the 28 cultists nabbed by the police in Edo has denied knowledge that the cultists are criminals.

Banke Adewumi was paraded alongside the 28 suspected cult members arrested by the police at the command headquarters in Benin.

Speaking during her parade, she claimed that she only sold cannabis out of the one she had bought for herself to one person and had no idea of any criminal activity he might have partaken in thereafter.

She said,

“I am 48 years old. I have nine children – six boys and three girls. I had all of them for my husband, Joseph.

“I sell fish now but I used to sell ‘Igbo’ (cannabis). I stopped the business eight years ago but before I stopped the business, it caused big trouble for my family. I still have a matter with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency [NDLEA].

“My husband has three wives. Among the three of us, I was the first to start the business. My husband’s other wives later joined us. We were later arrested by NDLEA but I set the others up.”

According to her, she set her two co-wives up and the NDLEA busted their trade, she switched to fish trade. Ironically, on the streets, fish can also mean Indian Hemp.

Narrating how she got herself into her present predicament, Adewunmi said,

“I found it difficult to ‘settle’ (pay) the boys supplying us, that was the reason why I set the two other wives up. Then, the NDLEA told us to stop the trade so we all stopped and we don’t sell again. I just had a baby then and that baby is now eight years old. Since I stopped selling (cannabis), I have only been going to a store to buy and smoke. One day, I bought N500 worth of cannabis to smoke and one of my neighbours asked me to sell N200 worth of cannabis to him.

“I said no and told him that the one I had with me was for me to smoke but when he continued to beg me, I gave him N200 worth of cannabis. He did not pay for it though and still asked for more. I told him I could not give him ‘Jara’ (extra) because I was not selling ‘Igbo’ (cannabis) again. After that, he went near my house to start smoking. I do not know if he smoked the ‘Igbo’ and then left to do something criminal, all I know is that I gave him the ‘Igbo’ when he begged me for it.”