The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has declared wanted a Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, Alhaji Afolabi Kazeem Ademola, over offences bordering on drug trafficking and has also blocked his bank account with a cash balance of Two Hundred and Seventeen Million Naira (N217,000,000.00).
The anti-narcotics agency discovered that the sought after drug kingpin was chief sponsor of some traffickers it had just arrested as they attempted to transport cocaine to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and other locations outside Nigeria.
In a statement by the agency sighted by Pharmanewsonline, it was revealed that NDLEA petitioned a Federal High Court in Lagos with three requests, all of which were granted to seize and seal the suspects’ identified properties in Lagos and Ibadan; after he had refused all invitations sent by the agency.
Six properties of Ademola on Lagos Island were sealed by NDLEA agents on Wednesday, 26 October, 2022. They are located on: 105 Tokunbo Street, off Broad Street, Lagos Island; 1 Abibu Oki Street, off Marina; 3 Abibu Oki Street, off Marina; 54 Palm Church Street, Lagos Island; 26 Agarawu Street, Lagos Island and 41 Foresythe Street. An additional property can be found on 1 Irepodun Zone, Adepoju busstop, Ajoda Ayedun, Ibadan, Oyo State.
In a related development, the agency also arrested another drug baron, Obunike William Udemezue at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on his return from Brazil. His arrest with the support of the Nigeria Immigration Service followed the earlier arrest of some drug couriers linked to him as their sponsor. They include two mules: Messrs Adolphus Anayochukwu Okeke and Michael Nnanna Anayo.
Okeke, a 52-year-old father of four children, who claimed to be a businessman was arrested at the Abuja Airport by NDLEA operatives with 20.75 kilograms of black liquid cocaine recently upon his arrival onboard Qatar Airways flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil through Doha, Qatar to Abuja. The liquid was discovered upon search of his luggage stuffed with six smaller bags containing 32 makeup mascara, which tested positive to cocaine.
On the other hand, a Brazilian returnee Anayo, was arrested at the Port Harcourt International Airport, PHIA, during the inward screening of passengers on board Qatar Airline flight QR1433 from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Doha to Port. Anayo was arrested with 73 sachets of cocaine, weighing 8.15 kilograms, which is the largest seizure of such at the airport, since it began international flight operations years ago.
Further investigations of the two traffickers by NDLEA operatives revealed Udemezue as the drug baron behind the cocaine cartel. As a result, he was watch-listed and arrested upon his return from Brazil on Friday 28 October, 2022.
In his reaction, Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), CON, OFR, commended the officers and men of the agency involved in the clinical investigation that led to the unmasking of the two barons. He said gone are the days when drug kingpins can hide behind traffickers and remain faceless, warning that the new NDLEA will continue to unravel them one after the other if they fail to back out of the criminal trade.
