….. As NDLEA nabs 2 ladies for producing drug-laced cakes for students; ex-convicts, and others in Kwara, Lagos, Kano, and 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, January 1, 2025, in her mansion at the Okota area of Lagos following the interception of a truckload illicit drug consignment from her staff the same day.
According to a press release Sunday, January 5, 2025, signed by the NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, known in the drug underworld as “Iya Ruka,” or 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 the NDLEA for leading one of the drug cartels operating from the Mushin area of Lagos. The lid was however blown off her invincibility on Wednesday, January 1, 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 recognised 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, the 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 at 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 arrested on Sunday 29th December 2024, 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 a N750,000 fine, which he paid and was let go.
However, in a 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, 2024. The seizure followed credible intelligence processed by the Port Harcourt Port Command of the Agency.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives 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, and sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces 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.
