The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has declared an ex-beauty queen, Ms. Queen Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, wanted for dealing in illicit drug activities.
THE WITNESS reports that this was disclosed in a statement released by the Director of Media and Advocacy at the NDLEA National Headquarters in Abuja, Femi Babafemi.
Babafemi said the suspect, who held the title of Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and founder of the Queen Christmas Foundation, was declared wanted.
The declaration came after she fled her Lekki estate to evade operatives who had received intelligence suggesting her involvement in illicit substance dealings.
Babafemi said recovered from her home during the search witnessed by the estate officials include 606 grams 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.
He said the suspect also known as Ms. Aderinoye Queen Christmas “has been declared wanted by the Agency after she escaped from her Lekki, Lagos residence when NDLEA operatives raided her apartment at Oral estate, Lekki on Wednesday 24th January following credible intelligence she deals in illicit substances.
Babafemi: “The suspect was Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and founder of Queen Christmas Foundation. Recovered from her home during the search witnessed by the estate officials include 606 grams 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.”
He also said two members of an international drug trafficking syndicate: “Sunday Michael Owoborode, 52, and Valentine Anene were arrested the next day Thursday 25th January at Edu Orita, Ogun state where Valentine was being prepared to travel with some drugs to Qatar the same day on board a Qatar airline flight from Lagos.
He said: “At the time of their arrest, 1.8kg cannabis, electronic weighing scale and other illicit substances were found on them. In another interdiction operation by operatives in Lagos, a 50-year-old Sunday Adediran, was arrested on Wednesday 24th January with 20kg cannabis sativa found in one of the rooms in his house at Mushin Olosha.”
He also said operatives Agency have arrested a Brazil returnee, Udechukwu Ekene Theophilus at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos for ingesting 60 big wraps of cocaine.
He said the suspect who was arrested during inward clearance of passengers on an 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 a body scan, raising health concerns in a desperate bid to evade arrest.
Babafemi said: “When he was however 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 kilograms in five excretions.
“In his statement, Udechukwu 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 statement reads.
He said in the same vein, NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport on Tuesday 23rd January recovered a total of 12 cartons of tramadol 225mg containing five hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred (599,900) pills weighing 385.40kg from an overstayed cargo at the SAHCO import shed of the Lagos airport after a joint examination with other agencies. He said they were however placed under watch by NDLEA operatives since then.
The statement reads: “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.
“Not less than 822 kilograms 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 111.3kg of same substance at Maigatari town in Jigawa State on Tuesday 23rd January.
“In Yobe state, two suspects: Mohammed Usman and Adamu Ma’azu were arrested on Saturday 27th January with 49 blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 50kg at Damaturu motor park, Damaturu, while the duo of Paul Obor, 38, and Dennis Fuokorighe, 48, who were arrested on Wednesday 24th Jan. at a Navy checkpoint, Itobe, Ofu LGA, Kogi state with 318 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 190.8kg concealed in a gold colour Honda Accord Car marked RBC 449AE, were handed over to the Kogi state command of the Agency on Friday 26th Jan. by men of the Nigeria Navy Ship, Lugard, Lokoja.
