•Recovers over 7.7tons of cannabis, arrests 20 suspects in state raids
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested fleeing Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, Alhaji Ademola Afolabi Kazeem (a.k.a Alhaji Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed) over offences bordering on exportation and trafficking of illicit drugs as well as money laundering.
The arrest came days after the Agency declared the suspect wanted on Tuesday, November 1, following his failure to honour NDLEA invitations and an order granted by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
In a statement on Sunday, November 13, the Agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi said that the wanted drug kingpin was uncovered as the sponsor of some traffickers arrested by the anti-narcotics agency in their recent attempt to export cocaine to Dubai, UAE, and other destinations outside Nigeria.
“The search for him however paid off on Thursday, November 10, when he (the suspect) was successfully taken into custody where he is currently being interviewed.
“His lid was blown open after the arrest of one of his mules, Bolujoko Muyiwa Babalola, a Lagos BRT driver on June 27, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, when he named Alhaji Ademola Kazeem, alias Adekaz as the owner of the 900 grammes of cocaine he ingested.
“Following Adekaz’s failure to honour invitations sent to him, the Agency approached a Federal High Court in Lagos with three prayers: to attach and seal his identified properties in choice areas of Lagos island and Ibadan; declare him wanted and block his bank account with a cash balance of N217 million, all of which were granted,” Babafemi stated.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives also arrested a businesswoman, Okefun Darlington Chisom over her links with two Pakistanis — Asif Muhammed, 45 and Hussain Naveed, 57 — who were arrested at the Lagos airport with eight kilogrammes of cocaine concealed in a sound system while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahole, Pakistan via Doha on Saturday, November 5.
An automobile parts dealer, Omeje Oliver (a.k.a David Mark) who was arrested on Monday, October 31, in Enugu has also been linked to another drug seizure.
Oliver fled to Enugu after abandoning his business at Aspanda, Trade Fair Complex in Lagos since April 16 in connection with the seizure of 600 grammes of heroin concealed inside soles of lady’s footwears going to Liberia.
A further look at the Agency’s database revealed that Oliver was also involved in a case of 1.580kg Methamphetamine which was seized from one Victor Nwobodo Friday who was arrested at the MMIA on his aborted trip to Jakarta, Indonesia on February 6, 2018.
Babafemi said that charges had been filed against the suspect at the Federal High Court Lagos in respect of the old seizure, in addition to that of the recent one.
Also, NDLEA operatives attached to the SAHCO import shed of the MMIA Lagos intercepted another consignment of Tramadol from Karachi, Pakistan.
A total of six cartons comprising 497,900 tablets of Royal Tramaking, a brand of Tramadol 225mg with a gross weight of 304.90 kilogrammes, were recovered after a joint examination by stakeholders on Friday, November 11.
Operatives in Ogun State in the early hours of Saturday, November 12, raided a warehouse at Ogere area of Ikenne Local Government Area where they seized 273 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 3,533 kilogrammes (3.533 tonnes) from a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jesutofunmi Solomon.
This came on the heels of the seizure of 176kg of cannabis at Ogere trailer park on Wednesday, November 9, and the destruction of 15 hectares of cannabis plantation in Gbamgbam area of the state.
In the same vein, operatives in Osun State raided a cannabis plantation at Obada sawmill, Owena Ijesa in Oriade LGA, where they destroyed 1.2 hectares, recovered 2,823kg of processed cannabis and arrested 13 suspects on Sunday, November 6.
In Ondo, operatives seized 78kg of cannabis from a dealer, Beauty Godwin at Ofosu, along Benin-Ore expressway, and another 264kg from Abdul Rasheed Mohammed and Abdul Rasheed Haruna at Sanusi camp 2 in Owo.
In Rivers State, anti-narcotics officers of the Agency arrested Damion Onuoha during a raid at Elele Alimini community, Emuoha LGA, where he was found with 1.6kg of Methamphetamine as well as cash exhibit of N650,700. A joint operation with the military at Habour road, Port Harcourt City also led to the arrest of Sandra David and seizure of different quantities of cocaine and heroin as well as N2,055,750 million cash exhibit from her home.
In Edo State, operatives located and destroyed 10 clusters of cannabis sativa farms measuring 14 hectares at Igwalor forest, Uhunmwonde LGA where five bags of processed cannabis weighing 47.7kg were recovered.
A raid at Obadan village in the same LGA also led to the recovery 11 bags of cannabis sativa seeds weighing 399kgs and 34 bags of processed substance weighing 431kg, bringing the total weight to 830kg. Two suspects, Enododia Sunday and Osayaba Paul, were arrested at the scene.
Commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Rivers and Edo Commands of the Agency for the successful operations in the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), urged them and their counterparts across the country to intensify the heat on drug barons and cartels.
