A Paris court on Thursday sentenced the brother of France midfielder, Paul Pogba, to a three-year prison term, with two years suspended, after convicting him in a high-profile extortion case.

Mathias Pogba will be able to serve his one-year sentence with an electronic bracelet rather than behind bars.

The court also fined Pogba’s brother 20,000 euros for participating in the attempted extortion of 13 million euros ($13.5 million) from Pogba in 2022, and for putting pressure on the player, his family and his business contacts to obtain the payment.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Ogun Command, has destroyed a six-hectare hemp farmland in Alaka village, Ogun State.

The agency’s state commandant, Mr Tijani Rabe, disclosed this at a news conference in Abeokuta, the state capital, on Thursday while presenting the agency’s 2024 scorecard.

Rabe said four persons were arrested and are being investigated in connection with the hemp farming.

He said the command also recorded other significant success stories in its efforts to curb the hard drug trade.

According to him, the command arrested 675 drug offenders with 9.7 tons and 537.81 litres of liquid-base illicit drugs.

He said the command’s special operation, “Operation Closed Gates”, arrested a person with a seizure of 100 bags of hemp, weighing 1.3 tons, in November.

“Operation Closed Gates was launched as part of our Yuletide initiative and has been a resounding success.

“It targeted drug merchants and syndicates, sealing all entry roads into the state,” he said.

He said the command intensified sensitisation and advocacy initiatives by conducting lectures and programmes in schools, communities, and workplaces to educate the public about the dangers of drug abuse.

“In the year under review, the command conducted 128 sensitisation programmes in institutions.

“Through these sensitisation programmes, about 27,648 people were impacted,” he said.

Rabe further said the agency secured 221 convictions and sentences to various terms of imprisonment against drug offenders.

“Many cases are also at various stages of prosecution,” he said.

In 2022, the state police command uncovered a large expanse of land cultivated for the planting of Indian hemp and arrested seven suspects.

The Kano and Jigawa command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says its operatives have seized 2,179 kg of pangolin scales.

A statement on Tuesday by Saidu Nuruddeen, the command’s public relations officer, said a joint operation with the federal operations unit (FOU) zone D and Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) led to the seizure of the animal’s scales in the Mubi area of Adamawa.

Nuruddeen noted that the command also arrested one suspect in the Mubi area of Adamawa state during the operation.

He said the seizure underscores the command’s commitment to fighting illegal wildlife trade and protecting Nigeria’s biodiversity.

“The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Kano/Jigawa Command, in a joint enforcement operation with the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) under the leadership of comptroller Dauda Ibrahim Chana, made another significant breakthrough in combating wildlife trafficking on the 5th of December 2024,” the statement reads.

“The WJC provided actionable intelligence, supported the investigation with their expertise, and followed up with the NCS enforcement operation.

“A trained customs enforcement team led by Kano/Jigawa command successfully intercepted and effected the arrest and seizure from two warehouses in Mubi.”

The customs spokesperson said NCS and WJC had seized 21,582 kg of pangolin scales since their partnership, noting that this was the third major seizure in 2024.

He noted that 11,673.2 kg had been seized in 2024 alone, with 4,473.2 kg of pangolin scales confiscated by the command.

Nuruddeen added the perpetrators would be prosecuted accordingly, noting that the service will ensure further clampdown on illegal wildlife trade.