The Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency has revealed that its operative did not target the house of embattled-skit Maker, DeGeneral, before his arrest on Wednesday.
WuzupNigeria reported earlier that the agency arrested the popular Instagram sensation, real name Joshua Sunday, in the early hours of January 12 and recovered drugs from his apartment.
In an earlier report by the NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the operatives arrested the 22-year-old and some suspects with illicit drugs during a raid on a drug joint estate.
He added that the suspects “were arrested with illicit dr#gs including 200 sachets of 225mg Tramadol and 1.5kilograms of cannabis sativa. In the course of the operation, some persons including the suspected dealer ran away with bags suspected to contain exhibits.”
However, during a Punch Live Interview on Wednesday evening monitored by WuzupNigeria, Babafemi reacted to claims that the NDLEA carried out an illegal raid on the skit maker’s house.
Babafemi noted that DeGeneral was not their primary target and the operatives initially went to raid a drug joint but some criminal elements escaped and sought refuge in his apartment.
According to the NDLEA spokesman, there must be a connection between the suspected criminals and the house they ran into which belongs to DeGeneral.
He added that they suspected that the criminals did not wander into DeGeneral’s apartment randomly.
Reacting to online condemnations over DeGeneral’s arrest, Babafemi said that the “NDLEA should be commended and not condemned because they(the suspects) are at the end of justice.
“NDLEA will not just go into your home in the night without a definite receipt,” he said, adding that the operatives went to raid “a drug joint where it was established drug was being sold…
“The fact that they escaped from the joint to a house means there is a connection between the joint and the house.”
He also confirmed that apart from DeGeneral, “three others were arrested at the joint” while the comedian was arrested in his house. “He admitted ownership of the house,” Babafemi added.
The spokesman also revealed that the agency’s operatives did not know he was a celebrity until they started interrogating.
“We didn’t have De General in mind it was another operation” that led to his house and subsequent arrest.
“Our guys never knew he was a celebrity until they started interrogating him. That was when they knew he was a comedian,” he added.
