NDLEA arrests four cartel members after cocaine seizures, declares couple wanted

• Intercepts China, UK-bound drug consignments concealed in steel bolts, shea butter

Officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have declared a couple, Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade (alias Abdul Qassim Adisa Balogun) and Rashidat Ayinke Owoalade (alias Bolarinwa Rashidat Ayinke), wanted for running a cocaine cartel from India.

They were declared wanted following the arrest of four members of the syndicate in Lagos, where a Sports Utility Vehicle was recovered and two houses already traced to them were sealed preparatory to forfeiture to the Federal Government.

Two members of the syndicate: Imran Taofeek Olalekan and Ishola Isiaka Olalekan were arrested on April 3, following their bid to export 3.40kg of cocaine on a Qatar Airlines flight bound for Oman, through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja, Lagos.

Imran was the courier conveying the drug consignment to Oman. He was recruited by Ishola, on behalf of the head of the cartel, which investigation has now revealed to be Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade, whose Indian residence permit bears Abdul Qassim Adisa Balogun.

Confirming the development in a statement yesterday, spokesperson for the agency, Femi Babafemi, said efforts to dismantle his network in Nigeria paid off after five weeks of surveillance and follow up operations. This came after another member of the syndicate, Hamed Abimbola Saheed, who worked directly with the baron was arrested on Tuesday, May 14, at the Abule Egba area of Lagos.

According to him, it was Saheed who lodged Imran in a hotel a day before his aborted trip to Oman and equally dropped him and Ishola at the Lagos airport on the day they were arrested.

During a search at Hamed’s house, NDLEA operatives recovered some phenacetine, a cutting agent for cocaine, weighing 900gm. Hamed confessed that the recovered substance was what was left of the consignment Imran was taking to Oman the day he was arrested.

The arrest led to a follow up operation at the home of the Owoalade couple at 20 Eyiaro Street, Ogudu Orioke, Lagos, where another suspect was arrested and a new model Toyota RAV4 SUV marked FKJ-773 JJ belonging to Rashidat and additional 400gm of cocaine were recovered, in addition to already prepared suitcases to be used for illicit drug concealment, digital weighing scales and other paraphernalia.

In the same vein, NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI), attached to a courier firm in Lagos on Wednesday, May 15, intercepted two parcels, containing cocaine and amphetamine concealed in steel bolts and shea butter. While the cocaine weighing 587gm was concealed in eight steel bolt screws going to China, the amphetamine consignment packed in vape pens and hidden in shea butter was bound for the United Kingdom.

Also, attempt by Emeka Nwadiaro (a.k.a Mega) to export 3.6kg of Loud, a strain of cannabis concealed in 36 water flasks, to Dubai, United Arab Emirate (UAE), was also thwarted at a logistics company in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday, May 16.

A swift follow up operation led to the arrest of Emeka Nwadiaro, the owner of the consignment, in Onitsha, Anambra State, the same day. Again, NDLEA operatives in Lagos intercepted a Mercedes Benz bus loaded with 840kg of cannabis and arrested the driver, Samuel Henry, at Olojo in Ojo Local Council, Lagos. This was as another suspect, Lawal Adam, was nabbed along Otukpo road, Aliade, Benue State, on Friday, May 17, with 75,000 pills of opioids including tramadol and exol-5.

Two suspects: Olisa Etisi, 32, and Jonathan Umeh, 25, were arrested along Owerri-Onitsha road, Imo State, following the discovery by NDLEA operatives of a big gas cylinder used to conceal six blocks of Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 3.85kg.

In Borno State, 70-year-old Adamu Mohammed was arrested at Mbulamel, Biu Local Council on Thursday, May 16, with 2kg of cannabis and 33.55gm of diazepam, while Gaddafi Sani, 27, was arrested with 30kg of cannabis along Abuja-Kaduna road, Kaduna.

In Yobe State, a consignment of 91.1kg opioids and 13kg cannabis going to Maiduguri, Borno State, was recovered from hidden compartments of a petrol tanker along Potiskum-Damaturu road by NDLEA officers who also arrested the driver, Ismaila Ali.

Also, about four suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure of 2,025 pieces of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) materials intercepted in a Toyota Hummer bus marked AGL 905 XX along Agaie-Lapai road, Niger State.

While the duo of Abdulrauf Shitu Adeyemi, 46, and Asmiyu Rahim, 45, conveying the materials were arrested on the spot, follow up operations led to the arrest of Husaini Abdullahi, 25, at Sokoto main market, Sokoto, and Nazifi Abdullahi, 37, at Naibawa Motor Park, Kano on Friday, May 17.