Ten days after he was declared wanted, operatives of Nigeria’s Anti-narcotic Agency, 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 Agency had on Tuesday 1st November declared the suspect wanted following his failure to honour NDLEA invitations and an order granted by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
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 spokesperson for the agency, Mr Femi BabaFemi disclosed this in a press statement on Sunday.
“His lid was blown open after the arrest of one of his mules, Bolujoko Muyiwa Babalola, a Lagos BRT driver on 27th June at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, when he named Alhaji Ademola Kazeem, alias Adekaz as the owner of the 900grams of cocaine he ingested.”
“Following Adekazs 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 Two Hundred and Seventeen Million Naira (N217,000,000.00), all of which were granted,” the statement explained.
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, at the Lagos airport with 8 kilograms of cocaine while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahole, Pakistan via Doha on Saturday 5th November.
Also NDLEA operatives have arrested an automobile parts dealer, Omeje Oliver (a.k.a David Mark) on Monday 31st October in Enugu where he fled to after abandoning his business at Aspanda Trade Fair Complex in Lagos, since 16th April in connection with the seizure of 600 grams of heroin.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives attached to the SAHCO import shed of the MMIA Lagos have intercepted another consignment of Tramadol from Karachi, Pakistan.
Operatives in Ogun state in the early hours of Saturday 12th November raided a warehouse at Ogere area of Ikene LGA where they seized 273 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa (C/S) weighing 3,533 kilograms (3.533tons) from a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Jesutofunmi Solomon.
In the same vein, operatives in Osun state have raided a cannabis plantation at Obada sawmill, Owena Ijesa in Oriade LGA where they destroyed 1.2hectares, recovered 2,823kgs of processed C/S and arrested 13 suspects on Sunday, 6th November.
Also, in Ondo state, “operatives seized 78kgs of cannabis from a dealer, Beauty Godwin at Ofosu along 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 was found with 1.6kgs of Methamphetamine as well as six hundred and fifty thousand, seven hundred naira (N650,700.00).”
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 affected commands, the Chief Executive of NDLEA, Retired Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, urged them and their counterparts across the country to intensify the heat on drug barons and cartels.
