NDLEA nabs 2 ladies for producing drug laced cakes for
students; ex-convict, others in Kwara, Lagos, Kano, Rivers raids
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency, NDLEA, started the new year with the arrest of a wanted drug kingpin
and Lagos socialite, 61-year-old Alhaja Aishat Feyisara Ajoke Elediye on
Wednesday 1st January 2025 in her mansion at Okota area of Lagos following the
interception of a truckload illicit drug consignment from her staff same day.
Known in the drug underworld as “Iya Ruka”, Alhaja
Ajoke as she is fondly called in social circle, has her true identity shrouded
in mystery for years while she remained on the wanted list of NDLEA for leading
one of the drug cartels operating from Mushin area of Lagos. The lid was
however blown off her invincibility on Wednesday 1st January 2025 when NDLEA
operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a white Izuzu truck carrying 44
jumbo sacks containing 1,540 kilograms of imported cannabis and driven by one
of her staff, 41-year-old Abideen Adio. Thereafter, the operatives stormed her
hideout at 33 Adebayo Oyewole street, off Ago Palace way, Okota, where they
arrested her.
On the surface, Alhaja Ajoke is a businesswoman who
imports fabrics and shoes from China but beneath is a massive illicit drug
trade. She is also recognized as the Iyalaje of Blessing Sisters, an
influential club of society women in Lagos.
In another major operation, NDLEA officers on Friday
27th December 2024 arrested a US-trained Hollywood and Nollywood filmmaker,
Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe, who is also a motivational speaker at his Lekki Hotel
room following the arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, earlier same
day at a warehouse in Ajao estate Ikeja, where he was sent by Mbadiwe to
collect a shipment of 33 parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing
17.30 kilograms, which arrived the Import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International
Airport, MMIA Ikeja on 24th December 2024 from the United States on a Delta
Airline flight, concealed in large wooden boxes.
In Kwara state, a fresh graduate Khadijat Abdulraheem,
24, and a 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Ayomide Morakinyo
were on Sunday 29th December 2024 arrested by NDLEA operatives at
Tanke-University of Ilorin road, Oke Odo, Ilorin based on credible intelligence
that they were producing and selling drug laced cupcakes to students in the
community. When their apartment was searched, 42 pieces of drugged cakes were
recovered from them.
An ex-convict, Sodade Sunday Eniola, who was arrested
by operatives of the Tincan Command of NDLEA in June, 2024, for drug
trafficking, prosecuted and sentenced to four years in prison has been arrested
again by officers of the MMIA Strategic Command of the Agency for passport
racketeering. When he was convicted by a Federal High Court in Lagos on 14th
June 2024, the trial judge gave him an option of paying N750,000 fine, which he
paid and was let go.
However, in series of operations in December 2024,
NDLEA operatives at the export shed of the Lagos airport intercepted no fewer
than 52 passports of different countries from shipments going to Canada,
Russia, and other countries concealed in shoe soles and food items. Further
investigations led to the arrest of four members of three syndicates involved
in the racket.
The arrested suspects include: Sodade Sunday Eniola;
Ayinde Saheed Awwal; Salaudeen Afeez Ayode; and Sheriff Adebayo Bamigbade. Both
the exhibits and the suspects were on Monday 30th December 2024 handed over to
the Zonal Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service in Lagos for further
investigation and possible prosecution.
Not less than 316, 800 bottles of codeine-based syrup
were recovered from two containers by NDLEA officers at the Port Harcourt Ports
Complex, Onne Rivers state during a joint examination of the shipments with men
of Nigeria Customs and other security agencies on Tuesday 31st December 2024.
The seizure followed credible intelligence processed by the Port Harcourt Port
Command of the Agency.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 31st December
2024 raided Mafarki, Dan Dishe area of Dala LG where they recovered 149, 090
pills of tramadol and exol-5 from a local dealer, 45-year-old Ismail Muhammad.
With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the
Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA,
sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and
communities among others in the past week. These include: WADA sensitisation
lecture to traders at Ido-Osi Central Market, Ido Ekiti, Ekiti state; and
Muslim faithful during their Juma’at prayer at Birnin Kudu central mosque,
Jigawa state, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Lagos, Kano, PHPC and Kwara Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated.
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