NDLEA Arrest Wanted Adekaz, Woman Linked to Pakistani Cocaine Syndicate
Alhaji Ademola Afolabi Kazeem (also known as Alhaji Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed), a fleeing Lagos socialite and the owner of Adekaz Hotels, was apprehended by NDLEA agents ten days after he was listed as a wanted person for charges related to the exportation and trafficking of illegal drugs as well as money laundering.
In response to the suspect’s inability to comply with NDLEA invitations and an order issued by a Federal High Court in Lagos, the Agency had on Tuesday, November 1st, proclaimed him wanted. In their recent attempt to export cocaine to Dubai, UAE, and other locations outside of Nigeria, some traffickers were caught, and the anti-narcotics agency was able to identify them as the sponsor of some of the traffickers.
The search for Kazeem did, however, pay off on Thursday, November 10, when he was successfully hauled into custody where he is presently being interviewed, according to a statement from NDLEA spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi.
His cover was blown when one of his mules, Bolujoko Muyiwa Babalola, a Lagos BRT driver, was apprehended on June 27 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, and admitted to ingesting 900 grams of cocaine. He identified the owner of the cocaine as Alhaji Ademola Kazeem, alias Adekaz.
Following Adekaz’s refusal to accept invitations, the Agency petitioned a Federal High Court in Lagos with three requests, all of which were granted: to attach and seal his identified properties in desirable areas of Lagos island and Ibadan; to declare him wanted; and to block his bank account, which had a cash balance of N217,000,000.00.
In a related development, NDLEA agents detained Okefun Darlington Chisom, a businesswoman, for her connections to Asif Muhammed, 45, and Hussain Naveed, 57, two Pakistanis who were detained on Saturday, November 5, at the Lagos airport with eight kilograms of cocaine hidden in a sound system as they tried to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahore, Pakistan via Doha.
Omeje Oliver (also known as David Mark), an auto parts dealer who was detained on Monday, October 31 in Enugu after leaving his job at the Aspanda Trade Fair Complex in Lagos on April 16 in connection with the discovery of 600 grams of heroin hidden inside the soles of women’s shoes bound for Liberia, has been linked to yet another drug bust.
A closer check at the Agency’s database reveals that Omeje was also associated with the 1.580kg of methamphetamine that was found on Victor Nwobodo Friday, who was apprehended on February 6, 2018, at the MMIA during an unsuccessful flight to Jakarta, Indonesia. In addition to the most recent seizure, charges have also been brought against the suspect in the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Similar to this, NDLEA agents working out of the MMIA Lagos’ SAHCO import yard have stopped another shipment of Tramadol from Pakistan’s Karachi.
Following a joint assessment by stakeholders on Friday, November 11th, a total of 6 cartons containing 497,900 pills of the Royal Tramaking brand of tramadol 225mg with a gross weight of 304.90 kilos were found.
In a related occurrence, agents in Ogun State raided a warehouse early on Saturday, November 12th in the Ogere area of the Ikene LGA and recovered 273 giant bags of cannabis sativa from Mr. and Mrs. Jesutofunmi Solomon, totaling 3,533 kilos (3.533 tons) of cannabis.
This occurred shortly after 176kgs of C/S were found at an Ogere trailer park on November 9th and 15 hectares of a cannabis plantation were destroyed in the Gbamgbam region of the state.
On Sunday, November 6, agents from Osun state raided a cannabis plantation at the Obada sawmill, Owena Ijesa in the Oriade LGA. They demolished 1.2 hectares of the crop, confiscated 2,823 kg of processed C/S, and detained 13 individuals.
While 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 1.6kgs of Methamphetamine and monetary exhibit worth $650,000, sev., from a dealer named Beauty Godwin at Ofosu along the Benin-Ore express road. They also found 264kgs from Abdul Rasheed Mohammed and Abdul Rasheed Haruna at (N650,700.00).
A joint operation between the military and police at Habour Road in Port Harcourt City also resulted in the detention of Sandra David and the recovery of two million, fifty five thousand, seven hundred and fifty naira (N2,055,750.00) in cash from her residence.
A raid in Obadan village in the same LGA also resulted in the recovery of five bags of processed C/S weighing 47.7kg after agents in Edo state discovered and destroyed ten clusters of cannabis sativa crops measuring 14 hectares at Igwalor forest. The combined weight of 34 bags of processed material weighing 431kg and 11 bags of cannabis sativa seeds totaling 399kg is 830kg. Enododia Sunday and Osayaba Paul, two suspects, were taken into custody on the spot.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, encouraged them and their counterparts across the nation to increase the pressure on drug barons and cartels while praising the officers and personnel of the MMIA, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Rivers, and Edo Commands of the Agency for the successful operations in the previous week.
