How Hollywood Filmmaker, Mbadiwe Was Arrested As Lagos Socialite’s Drug Kingpin, 2 Ladies Cool Off In NDLEA Cell

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) 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.

BIGPEN NIGERIA (https://bigpenngr.com) learnt that his arrest followed the earlier arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, at a warehouse in Ajao Estate, Ikeja.

Mbadiwe, was said to have sent sent his partner to the warehouse to collect a shipment of 33 parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 17.30 kilograms, which arrived at the Import Shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, on December 14, 2024, from the United States on a Delta Airline flight, concealed in large wooden boxes.

This came as the NDLEA officials, also arrested a 61-year-old wanted drug kingpin and Lagos socialite, Alhaja Aishat Feyisara Ajoke Elediye, in her mansion at the Okota area of Lagos following the interception of a truckload of illicit drug consignment from her staff the same day.

Known in the drug underworld as “Iya Ruka”, Alhaja Ajoke, as she is fondly called in social circles, has had her true identity shrouded in mystery for years while she remained on the wanted list of the NDLEA for leading one of the drug cartels operating from the Mushin area of Lagos.

A statement by the Agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the lid was blown off her invincibility on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, when NDLEA operatives, acting on intelligence, intercepted a white Isuzu 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.

On the surface, Alhaja Ajoke is a businesswoman who imports fabrics and shoes from China, but beneath lies a massive illicit drug trade. She is also recognised as the Iyalaje of Blessing Sisters, an influential club of society women in Lagos.

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. 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.

When he was convicted by a Federal High Court in Lagos on June 14, 2024, the trial judge gave him an option of paying a N750,000 fine, which he paid and was let go.

However, in a 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, December 30, 2024, handed over to the Zonal Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service in Lagos for further investigation and possible prosecution.

No fewer 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 December 31, 2024.

The seizure followed credible intelligence processed by the Port Harcourt Port Command of the Agency.

In Kano, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, December 31, 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) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities, among others, in the past week.

These include WADA sensitisation lectures 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, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed 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