Crime
Former beauty queen surrenders to NDLEA after months on the run for drug charges
Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, a former Miss Commonwealth Nigeria and founder of the Queen Christmas Foundation, has surrendered herself to the Lagos command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) after nearly eight months on the run.
The beauty queen, who was declared wanted by the NDLEA in January, turned herself in on August 28, according to a statement released by Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokesperson.
Aderinoye had been evading arrest since January 24, when NDLEA operatives raided her residence at Oral Estate in Lekki, Lagos, based on credible intelligence that she was involved in drug-related activities.
During the search, which was conducted in the presence of estate officials, the operatives recovered 606 grams of Canadian Loud, a potent synthetic strain of cannabis, along with an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drug packaging materials, and other incriminating items.
A black RAV 4 SUV registered in Lagos and a picture frame of Aderinoye were also seized.
The former beauty queen, who held the title of Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture for 2015/2016, claimed that she had been hiding in Akure, Ondo State, since escaping the raid.
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Her surrender marks the end of her fugitive status, and she is now in NDLEA custody awaiting further legal action.
In related news, the NDLEA has made significant drug seizures in recent operations across Nigeria.
At the Port Harcourt Port Complex in Rivers State and the Tincan Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted large quantities of tramadol pills and codeine-based syrup, valued at over N17.9 billion on the street. The seizures, made between August 29 and 30, included 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup and 31,124,600 tramadol pills hidden in containers shipped from India.
At the Port Harcourt port, NDLEA operatives discovered 447 cartons of tramadol 225mg containing 29,840,000 pills, along with 380,000 bottles of codeine syrup from three containers. The total haul from these operations amounted to 1,284,600 bottles of codeine syrup and 29,840,000 tramadol pills.
Additionally, a suspect named Eze Don was arrested at Port Harcourt International Airport on August 27 while attempting to board a flight with 1,490 tramadol pills disguised as cosmetics. The suspect tried to bribe the officers to avoid arrest but was unsuccessful.
The NDLEA’s crackdown on drug trafficking also extended to Lagos, where 1,122 kg of cannabis was seized from a suspect, Mustapha Ibrahim, in Ajah.
Another 816 kg of cannabis was recovered from the same location, linked to a suspect who remains at large. Further seizures in Niger and Bauchi states uncovered tramadol, codeine syrup, exol-5 tablets, and 246.4 kg of cannabis hidden in a bus compartment.
These operations highlight the NDLEA’s ongoing efforts to combat the illegal drug trade across Nigeria, with substantial successes in recent months.