Why NDLEA Hunts A Couple After Arresting 4 Cartel Members Over Cocaine Seizures

Wanted couple

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has explained why it declared a couple, Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade (alias Abdul Qassim Adisa Balogun) and Rashidat Ayinke Owoalade (alias Bolarinwa Rashidat Ayinke), wanted.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by the anti-narcotics agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the married couple was declared wanted following the arrest of four members of their syndicate in Lagos, where a Sports Utility Vehicle was recovered and two houses traced to them were sealed for forfeiture to the Federal Government.

According to Babafemi, two members of the syndicate, Imran Olalekan and Ishola Olalekan, were arrested on April 3, 2024, after attempting to export 3.4 kilogrammes of cocaine on a Qatar Airlines flight to Oman via Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

He claimed that while Imran was the courier transporting the drug consignment to Oman, Ishola recruited him for the cartel’s leader, Alhaji Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade, whose Indian residence permit bears the name Abdul Qassim Adisa Balogun who is based in India.

He revealed that 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 Saheed, who works directly with the baron, was apprehended last Tuesday in Lagos’ Abule Egba area. He went on to say that it was Saheed who put Imran in a hotel the day before his aborted trip to Oman and dropped him and Ishola off at the Lagos airport the day they were arrested.

He revealed that during a search of Saheed’s home, NDLEA agents discovered 900 grammes of phenacetine, a cocaine-cutting agent. He admitted that the recovered substance was the remainder of Imran’s consignment to Oman on the day he was arrested.

Saeed’s arrest prompted a follow-up operation at the Owoalade couple’s home 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 an additional 400 grammes of cocaine were recovered, in addition to already prepared suitcases to be used for illicit drug concealment, digital weighing scales, and other paraphernalia;

He added that last Wednesday, NDLEA officers from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI) attached to a courier firm in Lagos intercepted two parcels containing cocaine and amphetamine concealed in steel bolts and shea butter. While the cocaine weighed 587 grammes and was concealed in eight steel bolt screws going to China, the amphetamine
A shipment packed in vape pens and hidden in shea butter was destined for the United Kingdom.

He said that Emeka Nwadiaro (a.k.a Mega) attempted to export 3.6 kilogrammes. Loud, a strain of cannabis concealed in 36 water flasks bound for Dubai, UAE, was also intercepted at a logistics company in Port Harcourt, Rivers state last Thursday, while a quick follow-up operation resulted in the arrest of the consignment’s owner, Emeka Nwadiaro, in Onitsha, Anambra state the same day.

He stated that NDLEA agents in Lagos intercepted a Mercedes Benz bus loaded with 840 kilogrammes of cannabis and arrested the driver, Samuel Henry, in Olojo, Ojo LGA, Lagos. Another suspect, Lawal Adam, was apprehended last Friday along Otukpo road, Aliade, Benue state, with 75,000 opioid pills, including tramadol and exol-5. Olisa Etisi, 32, and Jonathan Umeh, 25, were arrested on the Owerri-Onitsha road in Imo state after NDLEA agents discovered a large gas cylinder used to conceal six blocks of Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 3.85 kilogrammes.

In Borno state, 70-year-old Adamu Mohammed was arrested last Thursday at Mbulamel, Biu local government area, with 2 kilogrammes of cannabis and 33.55 grammes of diazepam, while 27-year-old Gaddafi Sani was arrested with 30 kilogrammes of cannabis along the Abuja-Kaduna road in Kaduna.

In Yobe state, NDLEA officers discovered a consignment of 91.1 kilogrammes of opioids and 13 kilogrammes of cannabis on the Potiskum-Damaturu road and arrested the driver, Ismaila Ali.

He stated that four suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure of 2,025 pieces of improvised explosive devices (IED) materials intercepted by NDLEA officers on the Agaie-Lapai road in Niger state. While Abdulrauf Adeyemi, 46, and Asmiyu Rahim, 45, who were transporting the IED materials, were apprehended on the spot, follow-up operations resulted in the arrests of Husaini Abdullahi, 25, at Sokoto main market, Sokoto, and Nazifi Abdullahi, 37, at Naibawa Motor Park, Kano, last Friday.

Meanwhile, Brig Gen Buba Marwa (Retd), Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, has ordered that all four suspects and the explosive materials be transferred to the appropriate security agency for further investigation. Muhammad Lawal, 42, was arrested at Central Market Motor Park in Katsina State with 1,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection.

Last Friday, NDLEA officers raided a house in the Obola community, Owan West local government area, Edo state, and recovered 105 kilogrammes of cannabis. A suspect, Gloria Oris, was arrested. Two suspects in Kwara state, Abdulganiyu Karaman, 55, and Sunday Abel, 37, were arrested on Saturday, May 18th, with 83 kilogrammes of cannabis and tramadol in Boriya, Baruten local government area, and Offa, respectively.

He noted that the various Agency commands across the country continued the War Against Drug Abuse, or WADA, advocacy campaign with the same vigour in the previous week.

While congratulating 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, on their outstanding feats in the past week, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd) stated that the efforts have further affirmed the NDLEA’s central role in the country’s security architecture. He also praised their counterparts in all commands across the country for stepping up their WADA advocacy lectures to strike a balance between drug supply and demand reduction activities.