Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested US-trained Hollywood and Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe, on Friday 27th December 2024.
He was detained in his Lekki hotel room following the arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, who was apprehended earlier that same day at a warehouse in Ajao Estate, Ikeja.
According to a statement by NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, Mbadiwe had instructed James to collect a shipment of 33 parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 17.30 kilograms.
The shipment had arrived at the Import Shed of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, on 24th December 2024, from the United States aboard a Delta Airlines flight, concealed in large wooden boxes.
In a separate development, NDLEA operatives in Kwara State arrested 24-year-old recent graduate Khadijat Abdulraheem and 20-year-old University of Ilorin student Ayomide Morakinyo at Tanke-University of Ilorin Road, Oke Odo, Ilorin, for producing and selling drug-laced cupcakes to students in the community.
Babafemi confirmed that 42 drug-laced cakes were recovered during a search of their apartment.
Furthermore, an ex-convict, Sodade Sunday Eniola, who had been arrested by NDLEA operatives at Tincan Command in June 2024 for drug trafficking, was re-arrested by officers from MMIA Strategic Command for passport racketeering. Eniola had been sentenced to four years in prison but was given an option of a N750,000 fine, which he paid.
In December 2024, during a series of operations, NDLEA officers intercepted 52 passports of various nationalities being smuggled to Canada, Russia, and other countries, hidden in shoe soles and food items. This 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.
The suspects and exhibits were handed over to the Zonal Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service in Lagos on Monday 30th December 2024 for further investigation and possible prosecution.
In another operation, NDLEA officers at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State, seized over 316,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup from two containers on Tuesday 31st December 2024.
The seizure followed credible intelligence processed by the Port Harcourt Port Command of the Agency, in collaboration with Nigeria Customs and other security agencies.
