Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, started the New Year with the arrest of a wanted drug baroness and Lagos socialite, 61-year-old Aishat Feyisara Ajoke Elediye in her mansion at Okota area of Lagos State following the interception of a truckload of illicit drug consignment from her staff same day.
According to the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, the suspect who is known in the drug underworld as “Iya Ruka”, and fondly called Alhaja Ajoke 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, January 1, 2025 when NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a white Izuzu truck carrying 44 jumbo sacks containing 1,540 kilogrammes 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, December 27, 2024 arrested a U.S-trained Hollywood and Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe, who is also a motivational speaker at his Lekki Hotel room in Lagos State. This followed the arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, earlier same day at a warehouse in Ajao Estate of Ikeja, where he was sent by Mbadiwe to collect a shipment of 33 parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 17.30 kilogrammes, which arrived the Import shed of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja on December 24, 2024 from the United States on a Delta Airline flight, concealed in large wooden boxes.
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In Kwara state, a fresh 24-year-old graduate, Khadijat Abdulraheem and a 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Ayomide Morakinyo were on Sunday, December 29, 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 Realign 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, December 30, 2024 handed over to the Zonal Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service in Lagos State 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, December 31, 2024. The seizure followed credible intelligence processed by the Port Harcourt Port Command of the Agency.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, December 31, 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.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
