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A Lagos socialite and a Nollywood filmmaker, linked to major illicit drug activities across the country, were among prominent individuals arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in the New Year.
PUNCH Metro learnt that on New Year Day, the NDLEA operatives stormed the Okota mansion of 61-year-old Aishat Elediye, a well-known Lagos socialite, leading to her arrest.
Her arrest followed the agency’s interception of a white Izuzu truck carrying 44 jumbo sacks of imported cannabis, weighing 1,540 kilograms, in Lagos.
The truck was driven by one of her staff members, Abideen Adio, 41, who was promptly arrested. Following the truck’s seizure, the NDLEA operatives raided the socialite’s Okota mansion.
A statement on Sunday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said Elediye, also known as “Iya Ruka,” had evaded the agency for years while allegedly running a drug cartel from the Mushin area of Lagos.
“Known in the drug underworld as Iya Ruka, Alhaja Ajoke, as she is fondly called in her social circle, has her true identity shrouded in mystery for years while she remained on the wanted list of the NDLEA for leading one of the drug cartels operating from Mushin area of Lagos.
“The lid was, however, blown off her invincibility on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, when the NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a white Izuzu truck carrying 44 jumbo sacks containing 1,540 kilograms of imported cannabis and driven by one of her staff, 41-year-old Abideen Adio,” the statement added.
Babafemi said on the surface, Alhaja Ajoke is a businesswoman who imports fabrics and shoes from China but beneath is a massive illicit drug trade.
“She is also recognised as the Iyalaje of Blessing Sisters, an influential club of society women in Lagos,” Babafemi added.
Babafemi also said operatives arrested a motivational speaker and US-trained Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Mbadiwe, in a separate operation.
He added that Mbadiwe was apprehended in a Lekki hotel following the arrest of his associate, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James.
“NDLEA officers on Friday, December 27, 2024, arrested a US-trained Hollywood and Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Mbadiwe, who is also a motivational speaker at his Lekki Hotel room following the arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe James.
“James was arrested the same day at a warehouse in Ajao Estate, Ikeja, where he was sent by Mbadiwe to collect a shipment of 33 parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 17.30 kilograms, which arrived at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja on December 24, 2024, from the United States on a Delta Airline flight, concealed in large wooden boxes,” the statement added.
He said operatives also cracked down on a ring of young dealers producing drug-laced cupcakes in Ilorin.
Babafemi said, “In Kwara State, a fresh graduate, Khadijat Abdulraheem, 24, and a 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Ayomide Morakinyo, were on Sunday, December 29, 2024, arrested by the NDLEA operatives at the Tanke-University of Ilorin Road, Oke Odo, Ilorin based on credible intelligence that they were producing and selling drug-laced cupcakes to students in the community.
“When their apartment was searched, 42 pieces of drugged cakes were recovered from them.”
In another operation, Babafemi said an ex-convict, Sodade Eniola, was rearrested for passport racketeering after being released from prison in June 2024.
Sodade had paid a fine of N750,000 for drug trafficking but was discovered to be part of a syndicate smuggling passports concealed in shoe soles and food items.
“An ex-convict, Sodade Eniola, who was arrested by operatives of the Tincan Command of NDLEA in June 2024, for drug trafficking, prosecuted and sentenced to four years in prison has been arrested again by officers of the MMIA Strategic Command of the agency for passport racketeering.
“When he was convicted by a Federal High Court in Lagos on June 14, 2024, the trial judge gave him an option of paying a N750,000 fine, which he paid and was let go,” the statement added.
In Port Harcourt, Babafemi said 316,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted during a joint operation with Customs officers on December 31, 2024.
Similarly in Kano, he said the NDLEA operatives recovered over 149,090 pills of tramadol and exol-5 during a raid in Dala Local Government.
