Former Lagos Councillor Arrested as NDLEA Seizes Drugs Hidden in Baby Diapers

By Zainab Uzomah|Abuja

Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has arrested a former councillor in Lagos State and intercepted several drug consignments across the country, including narcotics concealed in baby diapers.

According to a statement signed by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the former councillor, Sheleru Sadiq Olalekan, was arrested on 2 March at his residence in Ilado, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, following intelligence linking him to drug trafficking.

The NDLEA said the 45-year-old, who previously served two terms representing Orimedu community in the Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Council and now works as a legislative aide, was found with 40kg of skunk, a strain of cannabis, during a search of his home. The suspect reportedly admitted ownership of the drugs and the property where they were discovered.

In a separate operation in Abuja, officers intercepted a 32-year-old businessman, Emeka Hyginus Okwor, travelling from Obollo-Afor in Enugu State to Zuba in the Federal Capital Territory. When his luggage was searched, 1,000 pills of tapentadol were found hidden inside baby diapers. The NDLEA said the suspect admitted he was transporting the drugs to Gurara Local Government Area of neighbouring Niger State.

The agency also said it intercepted a Cameroonian national, Mey Ali Muhamat, on the Kabba–Obajana highway in Kogi State with 1.55kg of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, hidden in a standing fan carton. He was travelling in a commercial bus from Lagos to Cameroon.

In Niger State, operatives on patrol along the Mokwa–Jebba road seized 500 components used to assemble improvised explosive devices (IEDs) concealed in a sack on a commercial bus travelling from Ibadan. A follow-up operation led to the arrest of a 21-year-old suspect, Osama Abdullahi, in Mashegu Local Government Area.

Other seizures included 122,000 pills of tramadol and 700g of methamphetamine hidden in a truck carrying cartons of local drinks in Yola, Adamawa State. In Kano, a 20-year-old suspect, Muhammed Ali, was arrested with 11,283 tramadol pills, while two suspects were detained in Ogun State with 46kg of cannabis.

In Delta State, two people were arrested with 18.63kg of cannabis, codeine-based syrup and thousands of tramadol pills. In Edo State, NDLEA operatives destroyed more than 1.9 tonnes of cannabis on two farms and arrested two suspectswhile another man was detained with 176.5kg of the drug in Owan East Local Government Area.

The agency said it also continued its anti-drug awareness campaign in schools and communities across several states.

NDLEA chairman Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) commended officers involved in the operations and urged personnel nationwide to sustain the agency’s combined strategy of enforcement and drug-abuse prevention.