THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has busted a major cocaine syndicate in Lagos following the arrest of a 56-year-old trafficker, Lawal Lateef Oyenuga.
Oyenuga was arrested on November 24 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, on his way to deliver 400 grams of the class A drug concealed in a pair of palm sandals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Photo credit: NDLEA
The agency also arrested a wanted notorious drug kingpin, Wasiu Sanni Gbolahan, popularly known as Teacher, who recruits mules for the cartel.
Photo credit: NDLEA
This was disclosed in a statement by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, November 27.
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“NDLEA operatives attached to the screening point of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, had on Thursday 24th November intercepted Lawal Lateef Oyenuga with a pair of black palm sandals packed in the luggage he was going with to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airways flight.
“A thorough examination of the sandals revealed they were used to conceal two parcels of cocaine weighing 400 grams. This is barely a week after a 56-year-old widow and mother of four, Mrs. Ajisegiri Kehinde Sidika was arrested at the airport over her attempt to traffic 400 grams of cocaine concealed in her footwear to Makkah, Saudi Arabia on board a Qatar Airways flight,” the statement said.
The NDLEA said Oyenuga claimed he was recruited to traffic the drug by Gbolahan, aka Teacher, adding that he was first given some pellets of cocaine to swallow. However, when he couldn’t do that, he was given the ones concealed in the palm sandals.
“He said he resorted to the criminal trade to raise money to pay an examination fee for his daughter who is in Senior Secondary School class 3.”
According to the statement, NDLEA database reveals that Gbolahan has been linked to some previous attempts to traffic cocaine to Saudi Arabia and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He was earlier named as the one who recruited a BRT driver, Bolajoko Muyiwa Babalola, for Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, Ademola Afolabi Kazeem (a.k.a Alhaji Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed) to traffic drugs to Dubai.
Babalola was arrested on June 27 while taking 900 grams of cocaine to Dubai, while Ademola Kazeem was nabbed on November 10, barely ten days after he was declared wanted by NDLEA.
According to the anti-narcotic agency, an early-hours operation on November 25, led to the arrest of the kingpin, Gbolahan, who specialises in recruiting mules for drug barons in Lagos and its environs, at his residence located in the Ikorodu area.
The statement added that the 64-year-old Gbolahan is a housing and property agent with seven children and four wives, one of whom is now late.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives attached to the SAHCO export shed of the airport on November 22 intercepted a carton of food items used to conceal 500 grams of cannabis going to Dubai, UAE, while the owner, Uzoma Kingsley, was promptly arrested.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance