NDLEA declares couple wanted, nabs 4 for cocaine dealing

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has declared a couple, Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade (alias Abdul Qassim Adisa Balogun) and Rashidat Ayinke Owoalade (alias Bolarinwa Rashidat Ayinke), wanted for allegedly running a cocaine cartel from India.

The declaration of the couple wanted by the NDLEA followed 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.

NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi, who disclosed this via a statement on Sunday, May 19, 2024, said two members of the syndicate, Imran Taofeek Olalekan and Ishola Isiaka Olalekan, were arrested on April 3 following their bid to export 3.40kg cocaine on a Qatar Airlines flight going to Oman through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in 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,” Babafemi added.

India-bound couple excretes 184 wraps of cocaine at Lagos airport

He said efforts to dismantle the suspect’s 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, May 14, in the Abule Egba area of Lagos.

The NDLEA spokesman revealed that Saheed 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.

Babafemi noted that during a search of Hamed’s house, NDLEA operatives recovered some phenacetine, a cutting agent for cocaine, weighing 900 grams.

He stated that Hamed confessed that the recovered substance was what was left of the consignment Imran was taking to Oman the day he was arrested.

Babafemi added that Hamed’s arrest led to a follow-up operation at the home of the Owoalade couple at 20 Eyiaro Street, Ogudu Orioke in 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.

The Star