Gowon who is the leader of the notorious gangsters who specialize in planting of cannabis, otherwise known as Indian hemp inside the deep forest reserves in Akure, Ofosu, Ogbese and Ifon, thereby destroying the economic tree plantations has been on the wanted list of both the Nigeria Police and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in the last few months.
According to a source in the state command of NDLEA, over 25 tonnes of cultivated cannabis had been seized from Gowon and his gang members across the state by the command, while frantic efforts to arrest the said criminals by security operatives in the state has proved abortive until the Federal SARS officers stormed Akure, the state capital penultimate week, and took Gowon into custody.
The arrest of Gowon by the Federal SARS was made possible through a tip-off by one Mrs. Adenike Adeolu (a.k.a Iya Eyi) who is one of the allotees of compartments in Akure/Ofosu forest reserve affected by the destructive activities of the Indian hemp planters and cultivators.
Mrs. Adeolu has earlier wrote a petition to the Federal SARS over the criminal activities of Gowon and his gang who had destroyed her allocated Compartments 124 in Akure/Ofosu forest reserve to give way for the cultivation of their cannabis plantation.
It was further gathered that Gowon has been a successful Indian- Hemp farmer in Ondo state with the aid of some government officials in the Ministry of Natural Resources which was charged with the responsibility of supervising and safe guarding the forest reserves from encroachment and other criminal activities inside the Government forest reserves.
However, Mrs. Adeolu, who operates four compartments at the Akure/Ofosu forest reserves under the business name Million Enterprise Nig., has complained to the officers of the Ministry that her allocated compartments has been taken over by the Indian- hemp farmers who burnt her economic trees worth over N30 million to clear the land for cannabis cultivation.
She alleged that a particular government official in the ministry was said to have given Gowon support for his nefarious activities in the forest, adding that she has lost over N50 million to the illegal activities of these Indian- hemp dealers who have invaded her farm land in the last three years.
She therefore appealed to the State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to wade into the matter before the illegal activities of Gowon and his cohorts will sabotage and destroy one of the major economic resources of the state which is timber that comes from the forest reserves.
