NDLEA Declares Ex-Beauty Queen Wanted For Dealing in Illicit Drugs

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has declared an ex-beauty queen, Ms. Aderinoye Queen Christmas also known as Ms. Queen Oluwadamilola Aderinoye wanted over allegations of dealing in illicit drug.

 The spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said the ex beauty pageant winner was declared wanted after she escaped from her Lekki, Lagos residence when NDLEA operatives raided her apartment at Oral Estate, Lekki last Wednesday.

He said the raid followed credible intelligence she deals in illicit substances, adding that the suspect was Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and founder of Queen Christmas Foundation.

Babafemi disclosed that recovered from her home during the search witnessed by the estate officials include 606 grammes of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drugs packing plastics, a black RAV 4 SUV marked Lagos KSF 872 GQ, and her picture frame among others.

In other roll call of clampdowns during the week, Babafemi said operatives of the agency have arrested a Brazil returnee, Udechukwu Theophilus at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos for ingesting 60 big wraps of cocaine.

According to him, the suspect who was arrested during inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the D-Arrival Hall of the Lagos airport on Sunday 21st January 2024, initially refused to undergo body scan, raising health concerns in a desperate bid to evade arrest.

Babafemi said when the suspect was offered other options, he accepted to be placed on excretion observation and shortly after he was ushered into NDLEA observatory, he excreted the first set of cocaine pellets, after which he expelled a total of 60 wraps of the class A drug weighing 1.279 kilogrammes in five excretions.

Udechukwu, in his statement, claimed he ingested the consignment in Brazil and was to discharge everything at the airport in Addis Ababa but could only excrete 15 pellets which he handed over to another member of his syndicate before his connecting flight to Nigeria was called.

The spokesman said in the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport last Tuesday recovered a total of 12 cartons of tramadol 225mg containing 599,900 pills weighing 385.4 kilogrammes from an overstayed cargo at the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport after a joint examination with other agencies.

He said the tramadol consignment had come into the country in two batches on KLM Royal Dutch Airline flights from Karachi, Pakistan between 27th July and 1st August 2023. They were however placed under watch by NDLEA operatives since then.

Babafemi said not less than 822 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa hidden in a fuel station located at Ashipa community along Badagry-Seme road were recovered by operatives of the Seme Special Area Command of NDLEA, while a suspect Sani Audu, 35, was arrested with 111.3 kilogrammes of same substance at Maigatari town in Jigawa State last Tuesday.

In Yobe state, two suspects: Mohammed Usman and Adamu Ma’azu were arrested last Saturday with 49 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 50 kilogrammes at Damaturu motor park, Damaturu, while the duo of Paul Obor, 38, and Dennis Fuokorighe, 48, who were arrested last Wednesday at a Navy check point, Itobe, Ofu local government area, Kogi state with 318 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 190.8 kilogrammes concealed in a gold colour Honda Accord Car marked RBC 449AE, were handed over to the Kogi state command of the agency last Friday by men of the Nigeria Navy Ship, Lugard, Lokoja.

In Kano, a suspect, Shamwilu Idris, 29, was arrested at Gadar Tamburawa area last Thursday with 271 kilogrammes cannabis following the seizure of an abandoned 28.1 kilogrammes of same substance at Rijiyar Lemo area of the state last Wednesday. Another suspect, Abubakar Haruna Salisu, 24, was nabbed at Kotun Wambai, Yan Awaki area of Kano last Friday with 600 bottles of codeine-based syrup while a total of 1,306 blocks of cannabis weighing 886 kilogrammes seized by the Police at Kwanar Dangora, area of the state were transferred to the agency last Wednesday.

A total of 87 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 73 kilogrammes as well as 21,346 pills of tramadol and 3,800 tablets of diazepam were recovered from a suspect, Musa Galadima last Friday when his DAF truck marked GME 971 XD was intercepted at Lafiyawo, along Gombe – Bauchi road by NDLEA operatives. In Plateau state, Aminu Ubanta, 35, was nabbed last Saturday with 5.355 kilogrammes cannabis at Layin Zana area of Jos.

Babafemi, also disclosed that two members of an international drug trafficking syndicate: Sunday Owoborode, 52, and Valentine Anene were arrested last Thursday at Edu Orita, Ogun state where Valentine was being prepared to travel with some drugs to Qatar same day on board a Qatar airline flight from Lagos.

He said at the time of their arrest, 1.8 kilogrammes cannabis, electronic weighing scale and other illicit substances were found on them.

Meanwhile, in another interdiction operation by operatives in Lagos, a 50-year-old Sunday Adediran, was arrested last Wednesday with 20 kilogrammes cannabis sativa found in one of the rooms in his house at Mushin Olosha, Lagos State.

He noted that the various commands of the agency across the country
continued with the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, advocacy campaign in the past week.

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) in his usual tradition has commended his men for a great job in the course of the week while also applauding commands across the country for intensifying their WADA advocacy lectures, and thus creating a balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities.

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

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