Ten days after he was declared wanted, NDLEA operatives apprehended Alhaji Ademola Afolabi Kazeem (a.k.a. Alhaji Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed), a fleeing Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, for drug exportation and trafficking, as well as money laundering.
The suspect was declared wanted by the Agency on Tuesday, November 1st, following his failure to respond to NDLEA invitations and an order issued by a Federal High Court in Lagos. The wanted drug lord was identified as the sponsor of some traffickers apprehended by the anti-narcotics agency in their recent attempt to export cocaine to Dubai, UAE, and other locations outside Nigeria.
According to NDLEA spokesman Mr Femi Babafemi, the search for Kazeem paid off on Thursday, November 10th, when he was successfully taken into custody and is currently being interviewed.
His lid was blown open after one of his mules, Bolujoko Muyiwa Babalola, a Lagos BRT driver, was apprehended on June 27th at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, and named Alhaji Ademola Kazeem, alias Adekaz, as the owner of the 900grams of cocaine he ingested.
Following Adekaz’s failure to respond to invitations sent to him, the Agency petitioned a Federal High Court in Lagos with three requests: to attach and seal his identified properties in select areas of Lagos Island and Ibadan; to declare him wanted; and to block his bank account with a cash balance of N217,000,000.00, all of which were granted.
In a related development, NDLEA agents apprehended a businesswoman, Okefun Darlington Chisom, for her connections with two Pakistanis: Asif Muhammed, 45, and Hussain Naveed, 57, who were apprehended at the Lagos airport with 8 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a sound system while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahole, Pakistan via Doha on Saturday 5th November.
Meanwhile, Omeje Oliver (a.k.a David Mark), an automobile parts dealer who was arrested on Monday 31st October in Enugu after fleeing his business at Aspanda, Trade Fair Complex Lagos since 16th April in connection with the seizure of 600 grams of heroin concealed inside soles of lady’s footwear bound for Liberia, has been linked to another drug seizure.
A search of the Agency’s database reveals Omeje was also involved in a case of 1.580kg Methamphetamine seized from one Victor Nwobodo Friday, who was arrested at the MMIA on February 6, 2018, during an aborted trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. Charges have been filed against the suspect in the Federal High Court in Lagos for both the previous seizure and the recent one.
Similarly, NDLEA agents assigned to the MMIA Lagos’ SAHCO import shed intercepted another shipment of Tramadol from Karachi, Pakistan.
Following a joint examination by stakeholders on Friday 11th November, a total of 6 cartons containing 497,900 tablets of Royal Tramaking brand Tramadol 225mg with a gross weight of 304.90 kilograms were recovered.
In a similar development, operatives in Ogun State raided a warehouse in the Ogere area of Ikene LGA in the early hours of Saturday, November 12th, and seized 273 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing 3,533 kilograms (3.533tons) from a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jesutofunmi Solomon.
This followed the seizure of 176kgs of C/S at Ogere trailer park on Wednesday, November 9th, and the destruction of 15 hectares of cannabis plantation in the state’s Gbamgbam area.
On the same day, operatives in Osun state raided a cannabis plantation at Obada Sawmill, Owena Ijesa in Oriade LGA, destroying 1.2 hectares, recovering 2,823kgs of processed C/S, and arresting 13 suspects.
In Ondo, operatives seized 78kgs of cannabis from a dealer, Beauty Godwin, at Ofosu along the Benin-Ore express road, and another 264kgs from Abdul Rasheed Mohammed and Abdul Rasheed Haruna at Sanusi camp 2 in Owo, while in Rivers state, anti-narcotics officers of the Agency arrested Damion Onuoha during a raid at Elele Alimini community, Emuoha LGA, where he
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 two million, fifty five thousand, seven hundred and fifty naira (N2,055,750.00) 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 C/S weighing 47.7kgs were recovered, while 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 431kgs, bringing the total weight to 830kgs. Two suspects: Enododia Sunday and Osayaba Paul were arrested at the scene.
While 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.
