THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a fleeing Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, Ademola Afolabi Kazeem (a.k.a Alhaji Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed), ten days after he was declared wanted.
Operatives of NDLEA arrested Kazeem over offences bordering on the exportation and trafficking of illicit drugs and money laundering.
He was declared wanted on Tuesday, November 1, following his failure to honour NDLEA invitations and an order granted by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
According to a statement by NDLEA Director Of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi, 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, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other destinations outside Nigeria.
“The search for him, however, paid off on Thursday, 10th November, when he was successfully taken into custody, where he is currently being interviewed.
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“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 900 grams of cocaine he ingested.
“Following Adekaz’s 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 said.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA operatives have also arrested a businesswoman, Okefun Darlington Chisom, over her links with two Pakistanis: Asif Muhammed, 45 and Hussain Naveed, 57, who were arrested at the Lagos airport with 8 kilograms of cocaine.
Photo credit: NDLEA
They were arrested with drugs concealed in a sound system while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Lahore, Pakistan, via Doha on Saturday, November 5.
In another development, an automobile parts dealer, Omeje Oliver (a.k.a David Mark) who, was arrested on Monday, October 31, in Enugu, where he fled after abandoning his business at Aspanda, Trade Fair Complex Lagos on April 16 in connection with the seizure of 600 grams of heroin concealed inside soles of lady’s footwears going to Liberia, has been linked to another drug seizure.
Photo credit: NDLEA
The statement said a further look at the Agency’s database reveals Omeje was also involved in a case of 1.580kg of Methamphetamine seized from one Victor Nwobodo Friday, who was arrested at the MMIA during his aborted trip to Jakarta, Indonesia, on February 6, 2018.
The anti-narcotics Agency said charges had been filed against the suspect at the Federal High Court Lagos regarding the old seizure in addition to the recent one.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance