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NDLEA Arrests Two UNILORIN Graduates For Selling Drug-Laced Cupcakes In Kwara
The suspects, identified as 24-year-old Khadijat Abdulraheem and a 20-year-old accomplice, were apprehended on Sunday
Abuja, Nigeria– Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two recent graduates of the University of Ilorin for allegedly producing and selling drug-laced cupcakes to students in the Tanke-University of Ilorin Road area, Oke Odo, Ilorin, Kwara State.
The suspects, identified as 24-year-old Khadijat Abdulraheem and a 20-year-old accomplice, were apprehended on Sunday.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the agency’s operatives searched the suspects’ apartment and recovered 42 pieces of drugged cupcakes.
Babafemi disclosed in a statement that the operation was part of the agency’s crackdown on the distribution of illicit substances in the university community.
“This arrest highlights the growing trend of drug-laced edibles targeting young people. We will continue to intensify efforts to rid communities of such harmful practices,” Babafemi said.
Meanwhile, an ex-convict, Sodade Sunday Eniola, who was arrested by operatives of the Tincan Command of NDLEA in June, 2024, for drug trafficking, prosecuted and sentenced to four years in prison has been arrested again by officers of the MMIA Strategic Command of the Agency for passport racketeering.
Babafemi explained that when the suspect was convicted by a Federal High Court in Lagos on 14th June 2024, the trial judge gave him an option of paying N750,000 fine, which he paid and was let go.
The statement read, “However, in series of operations in December 2024, NDLEA operatives at the export shed of the Lagos airport intercepted no fewer than 52 passports of different countries from shipments going to Canada, Russia, and other countries concealed in shoe soles and food items. Further investigations led to the arrest of four members of three syndicates involved in the racket.
The arrested suspects include: Sodade Sunday Eniola; Ayinde Saheed Awwal; Salaudeen Afeez Ayode; and Sheriff Adebayo Bamigbade.
“Both the exhibits and the suspects were on Monday 30th December 2024 handed over to the Zonal Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service in Lagos for further investigation and possible proprosecutio.
He noted that not less than 316, 800 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from two containers by NDLEA officers at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne Rivers state during a joint examination of the shipments with men of Nigeria Customs and other security agencies on Tuesday 31st December 2024.
The seizure followed credible intelligence processed by the Port Harcourt Port Command of the Agency.
“In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 31st December 2024 raided Mafarki, Dan Dishe area of Dala LG where they recovered 149, 090 pills of tramadol and exol-5 from a local dealer, 45-year-old Ismail Muhammad.
“With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week,” Babafemi said.
These include: WADA sensitisation lecture to traders at Ido-Osi Central Market, Ido Ekiti, Ekiti state; and Muslim faithful during their Juma’at prayer at Birnin Kudu central mosque, Jigawa state, among others.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, Lagos, Kano, PHPC and Kwara Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated.
