The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency paraded two sisters and the spouse of one of them before newsmen in Katsina on Tuesday for being in possession of six kilograms of Indian hemp.
The narcotics agency’s commander in Katsina State, Mohammed Bashir, told newsmen that one of the women, Rabi Musa, 45, was arrested for being in possession of three kilograms of Indian hemp.
He said Rabi was assisting her husband, now at large, to sell the illicit drug in connivance with her sister, Zainab Musa and her husband.
He said Zainab and her husband were also arrested for being in possession of another three kilograms of Indian hemp.
Bashir said the arrest of Rabi led to the arrest of the two other suspects and assured that her fleeing husband would soon be arrested.
The three suspects already arrested would be prosecuted, he assured.
He blamed rampant divorce cases in Katsina State on drug abuse and called on parents to take drug integrity tests of their would-be sons-in-law seriously.
He also advocated that parents must demand drug-free certificates from would-be sons-in-law before giving out their daughters out in marriage rather than getting swayed by wealth.
Fielding questions from newsmen, 45-five-year-old Rabi confessed to committing the crime but explained that she was only carrying out her husband’s instructions in order to be seen as a loyal wife.
She pleaded for mercy and advised women and parents to be careful about suitors asking for their daughters’ hands in marriage.
Bashir also told newsmen that the NDLEA arrested four other suspects in a vehicle with expired ammunition.
They were later found to be car snatchers who robbed the owner of the car – a senior police officer – at gunpoint.
“A few days ago, three other suspects, artisans, were nabbed on the Kano-Katsina Highway with a car suspected to have been stolen in Jos,’’ Bashir said.
NAN