Pablo Escobar In Lagos!
hive-153850·@bruno-kema·
0.000 HBDPablo Escobar In Lagos!
 <sub><sub>[Faruk Tokluoğlu](https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-police-officer-and-investigators-work-at-crime-scene-7101498/)</sub> ***  <br> Have I seen a crime scene before? Well, this question is quite tricky seeing as many of us can walk by a potential crime scene and we would have no idea. Hell, we might even be in a place a horrific crime was committed and just because it was never exposed, we would never know. But that is not what the question says. When I first came across it, I had to do a little bit of thinking. I have always lived a somewhat quiet life, and the majority of the crime that takes place around me is done on TV. And that is if we are not counting the ones done by those in power, law enforcement, or the young ones in the hood smoking weed and taking hard drugs. Other than that, I’ve never come across a crime scene.  Or have I? I am going to tell you about the first instance that comes to my mind, and this happened shortly after my primary school education. I was just done with common entrance and I was looking forward to getting admitted into my secondary school. In my area, people sell a lot of things. While that era was relatively better than it is now, things were still hard for a lot of people. So people were doing anything and everything to make ends meet. We had a lot of petty traders, and it was not unusual to see five people with their stalls side-by-side and selling the exact same thing.  <sub><sub>[Kampus Production](https://www.pexels.com/photo/sellers-putting-fruit-baskets-in-shop-outdoors-8475201/)</sub> Anyway, things were hard and people were doing what they could to survive. But there was this man who took it to a whole different level. He had started off as a pharmacist, he opened his shop in the neighborhood and as the only pharmacist, he was able to gather all our patronage. He sold his drugs exorbitantly, and because people couldn’t go too far to buy them cheaper and they were sick, they would pay for it through their noses. This man was raking in good money off the backs of the people. But that was not his crime. Eventually, as the town developed, more pharmacists began to open up shops in the area, and with them came competition. They sold the drugs at a cheaper rate and even gave consultation services as well. Immediately, the people of the community flocked to the new pharmacists. No one looked at one who was always selling his drugs at exorbitant rates anymore.  Soon, the man’s shop became more or less a wasteland. He couldn’t restock because sales were so low, and even if he did restock, who would buy? There were now so many pharmacists in the area, the time he would have used to get himself some die-hard customers, he had used it making life miserable for them. He had to think of something fast. And that was when he decided to go big or go home! He continued selling drugs, but he also began to sell things that had nothing to do with medicine as well. He was selling biscuits, bread, provision, canned foods, and what have you. His shop was now stocked full to the brim but not with drugs or medicine. So now, his target customer was no longer the sick people in the area. It was everyone in the area.  <sub><sub>[Alexandros Chatzidimos](https://www.pexels.com/photo/prescriptions-sign-on-a-drug-store-front-3652750/)</sub> And get this, he was selling everything cheaper. Removing about N10 or N5 from the price of each item, even if it meant selling at a loss. He became kinder and was always listen to customers. He even sold wares on credit. As expected, people began to flock back to his shop in droves. He had learned his lesson though, he didn’t increase his prices, he kept selling at the same rate. Giving it cheap to the people. He gave free consultations to the sick and sold the drugs they needed at cheap rates. His shop was always full of goods that were always flying off the shelves. And soon, he opened another shop and his wife managed that one. She focused only on selling provisions.  The man had learned his lesson, he had managed to get his customers back and managed to dominate the entire market even to the point of expanding his business. But still, that wasn’t his crime! One day, I was on my way back home (can’t remember from where) with my sister when we saw about four vans in front of the pharmacy. There were officers of the law, holding guns as they were going in and out of the shop, carting huge cartons filled to the brim with drugs. Yeah, you guessed right. They were NDLEA!  <sub><sub>[Mathias Reding](https://www.pexels.com/photo/armed-police-squad-controlling-street-4646765/)</sub> The pharmacist and his wife had their wrists cuffed behind them and made to sit on the ground as the agents ransacked their shop and turned it upside down. By the time they were done, they took their loot, took the couple, and drove away. And until we moved out of that area, that shop never opened again. For those of you that don’t know, NDLEA is the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency. They are in charge of making sure that all the drugs in the country are up to standard and they are always battling against people who sell fake drugs. And that was something this pharmacist was doing. He was basically Pablo Escobar, if Pablo had dealt in counterfeit drugs!  He had been selling fake drugs to people. That was why he could sell them so cheap because they were fake and the other things he was selling were just to coverup. And the others could never compete against the price he set. All these were before NDLEA started setting the confirmation code, so for many people there was no way to tell if they were been sold the real deal or they were sold counterfeit. Now, as I am writing this, I have to wonder just how many people would have been hurt by this man’s greed. If not that the law had eventually caught up with him, he would have continued unabated, and everyone would still be hailing him, not knowing he was slowly killing all of them.  <sub><sub>[Kindel Media](https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-arrested-7785058/)</sub> These days, when you hear the scores of NDLEA, you shudder with fright. In the news, they report that drugs worth hundred million, five hundred million naira are seized. What about the ones that were not seized? Are they still out there in circulation? Thankfully, we now have a way to check if a drug is authentic or not. Each pack comes with a special code that you are to send to a number. You get an instant reply confirming if it’s safe to use or not. We have to take care of ourselves, even if we are sick and weak. Because if we don’t we would only fall victim to those who are looking to take us as prey. Anyway, I didn’t know the full backstory about the pharmacist back then. It was later told to me by my sister later that night after he was arrested. And as per hearsay, it was also based on what she had heard. So, I can’t really vouch for the man’s backstory, I could be repeating a groundless rumor or I could be retelling facts as told. But I do know for sure that he sold counterfeit drugs and he was arrested for it. Turning his shop into the very first crime scene that I witnessed. At least, the law came through back then.  <sub><sub>[Pok Rie](https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-man-standing-on-seashore-412086/)</sub> *** <br> <center><sub>Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below, I would love to know what you are thinking. Till we meet in the next post.</sub></center> *** <br> <center><sub>This post is inspired by the third topic of this week which is [Crime Scene](https://hive.blog/hive-153850/@kronias/weekly-featured-contents-oror-week-46-edition-03-oror-crime-scene). Feel free to take part.</sub></center> *** <br> 
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