Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, started the new year with the arrest of a wanted drug kingpin and Lagos socialite, 61-year-old Alhaja Aishat Feyisara Ajoke Elediye, on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, in her mansion at Okota area of Lagos State, following the interception of a truckload illicit drug consignment from her staff same day.
The spokesman of the NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, made this known on Sunday in a statement he issued.
He said, known in the drug underworld as “Iya Ruka”, Alhaja Ajoke as she is fondly called in social circle, has her true identity shrouded in mystery for years while she remained on the wanted list of 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 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.
Thereafter, the operatives stormed her hideout at 33 Adebayo Oyewole Street, off Ago Palace Way, Okota, where they arrested her.
Babfemi said on the surface, Alhaja Ajoke is a businesswoman who imports fabrics and shoes from China but beneath is a massive illicit drug trade.
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She is also recognized as the Iyalaje of Blessing Sisters, an influential club of society women in Lagos.
In another major operation, NDLEA officers on Friday, December 27, 2024 arrested a US-trained Hollywood and Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe, who is also a motivational speaker at his Lekki Hotel room following the arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, earlier 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 the Import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja on 24th December 2024 from the United States on a Delta Airline flight, concealed in large wooden boxes.
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 NDLEA operatives at 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.
