| The couple. |
A
couple, Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade (alias Abdul Qassim Adisa Balogun) and
Rashidat Ayinke Owoalade (alias Bolarinwa Rashidat Ayinke), who runs a cocaine
cartel from India has been declared wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency, NDLEA 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 sealed for forfeiture to the Federal Government.
Two
members of the syndicate: Imran Taofeek Olalekan and Ishola Isiaka Olalekan
were arrested on April 3, 2024 following their bid to export 3.40kg cocaine on
a Qatar Airlines flight going to Oman through the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.
While
Imran was the courier conveying the drug consignment to Oman, Ishola recruited
him for the head of the cartel, which investigation has now revealed to be
Alhaji Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade whose Indian residence permit bears Abdul
Qassim Adisa Balogun based in India.
Efforts to dismantle his network in Nigeria paid off after five weeks of
surveillance and follow up operations when another member of the syndicate,
Hamed Abimbola Saheed who works directly with the baron was arrested on Tuesday
14th May at Abule Egba area of Lagos. It was indeed 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 the day they were arrested.
During
a search of Hamed house, NDLEA operatives recovered some phenacetine, a cutting
agent for Cocaine, weighing 900 grams. He confessed that the recovered
substance was what was left of the consignment Imran was taking to Oman the day
he was arrested.
His
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
400 grams of Cocaine 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 15th May
intercepted two parcels, containing Cocaine and Amphetamine concealed in steel
bolts and shea butter. While the cocaine weighing 587 grams, was concealed in
eight steel bolt screws going to China, the Amphetamine consignment packed in
vape pens and hidden in shea butter was going to the United Kingdom.
Attempt
by Emeka Nwadiaro (a.k.a Mega) to export
3.6kg Loud, a strain of cannabis concealed in 36 water flasks to Dubai, UAE was
also thwarted at a logistic company in Port Harcourt, Rivers state on Thursday
16th May while a swift follow up operation led to the arrest of the owner of
the consignment, Emeka Nwadiaro in Onitsha, Anambra state same day.
While
NDLEA operatives in Lagos intercepted a mercedes benz bus loaded with 840kg
cannabis and arrested the driver, Samuel Henry, at Olojo in Ojo LGA, Lagos,
another suspect, Lawal Adam was nabbed along Otukpo road, Aliade, Benue state
on Friday 17th May 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 cyclinder
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 LGA
on
Thursday 16th May with 2kg cannabis and 33.55grams of diazepam, while Gaddafi
Sani, 27, was arrested with 30 kilograms 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 arrested the driver,
Ismaila Ali.
No
less than four suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure of 2,025
pieces of improvised explosive devices (IED) materials intercepted in a Toyota
hummer bus marked AGL 905 XX by NDLEA officers along Agaie – Lapai road, Niger
state. While the duo of Abdulrauf Shitu Adeyemi, 46, and Asmiyu Rahim, 45,
conyeying the IED 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 17th May. The
Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) has
directed that all four suspects and the explosive materials be transferred to the
appropriate security agency for further investigation. In another operation,
Muhammad Lawal, 42, was nabbed at Central Market Motor Park, Katsina State with
1,000 Ampoules of Pentazocine injection.
A
total of 105kg cannabis was on Friday 17th May recovered from a house at Obola
community, Owan West LGA, Edo state and a suspect, Gloria Oris arrested when
NDLEA officers raided the area. In Kwara state, two suspects: Abdulganiyu Karaman, 55, and Sunday Abel, 37,
were on Saturday 18th May arrested with 83kg cannabis and tramadol at Boriya,
Baruten LGA, and Offa respectively.
With
the same vigour, the various commands of the Agency across the country
continued
with the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, advocacy campaign in the past week. Some
of them include: WADA sensitisation lecture for students and teachers of
Government Girls Science secondary school, Malumfashi and Government Girls
Science Secondary School, Daudawa, Katsina;
Government Girls Science College, Tunga Magajiya Rijau LGA, Niger state;
students and teachers of St. Theresa’s College Oke-Ado, Ibadan, Oyo state;
students of Government Girls Secondary School, Tudun Wada, Kano; students of
Dein secondary school, Imobi secondary school and St. Columbas Grammar School,
Agbor, Delta State.
While
commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Rivers, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Yobe,
Borno, Niger, Benue, Kwara, Imo, and Edo Commands of the Agency as well as
those of DOGI for their outstanding feats in the past week, Chairman/Chief
Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) said the
efforts have further affirmed the cardinal role of NDLEA in the security
architecture of the country. He equally applauded their counterparts in all the
commands across the country for intensifying their WADA advocacy lectures to
create a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand
reduction activities.