The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has announced that a former beauty queen, Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, has surrendered to its Lagos command. Aderinoye, who was the Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture in 2015/2016, had been declared wanted by the agency and was in hiding for the past eight months. The agency accused her of evading arrest after a raid was conducted on her apartment in Lekki, Lagos.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, Aderinoye turned herself in following months of being on the run. She was declared wanted after she escaped during a raid by NDLEA operatives on January 24, 2024. The raid was conducted based on credible intelligence suggesting that Aderinoye was involved in the distribution of illicit substances. During the raid, the operatives recovered 606 grams of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, an electronic weighing scale, a substantial amount of drug packaging materials, and a black RAV 4 SUV marked Lagos KSF 872 GQ, along with a picture frame and other items from her apartment.

Babafemi stated, “Wanted ex-beauty queen, Ms. Aderinoye Queen Christmas, also known as Ms. Queen Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, has surrendered to the Lagos command of the agency after about eight months in hiding.”

The statement continued to provide details about the items recovered during the raid, including the cannabis and other drug paraphernalia. It also mentioned that Aderinoye is the founder of the Queen Christmas Foundation, an organization that she was actively involved with before going into hiding.

Aderinoye, in her statement to the NDLEA, claimed that she had been hiding in Akure, Ondo State, since January when she managed to escape arrest during the Lekki raid. She finally surrendered to the agency on Wednesday, August 28, indicating that she could no longer continue hiding from the authorities.

In a related development, Babafemi also reported significant seizures of narcotics by the NDLEA at various locations across the country. At the Port Harcourt Port Complex in Rivers State and the Tin Can seaport in Lagos, operatives intercepted a total of 31,124,600 pills of tramadol, each with a potency of 225mg, as well as numerous bottles of codeine-based syrup. These seizures were valued at over N17,932,200,000.00 in street terms.

“The seizures were made following intelligence processed by the agency on the movement of the shipments from their port of origin in India, leading to a demand for a 100 per cent joint examination of the watch-listed containers with the Nigerian Customs Service and other sister security agencies,” Babafemi explained.

The statement further broke down the details of the seizures. At the Tin Can port in Lagos, two containers were found to contain 350,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup, with each container holding 175,000 bottles. Similarly, at the Port Harcourt Port Complex in Onne, NDLEA operatives intercepted three containers, which contained a total of 447 cartons of tramadol 225mg, amounting to 29,840,000 pills. Additionally, 380,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered from these containers.

Babafemi added that another set of three containers that had been placed under surveillance by the NDLEA underwent a joint examination. As a result, 3,030 cartons of codeine syrup containing 554,600 bottles were seized. The total seizures at the Onne port and Tin Can port amounted to 1,284,600 bottles of codeine syrup, with a street value of N8,992,200,000.00, and 29,840,000 pills of tramadol valued at N8,940,000,000.00.

In addition to these major seizures, the NDLEA has been active in other parts of the country. At the Port Harcourt International Airport in Rivers State, operatives arrested a suspect named Eze Emekan Don on August 27. Don was attempting to board a Cronos Airline flight to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, and was found with 1,490 pills of tramadol concealed and packaged as various cosmetics inside his luggage.

In Lagos, the NDLEA reported a significant seizure of cannabis. On August 26, a suspect, Mustapha Ibrahim, was arrested along Orchid Road, Ajah, Lagos, with 1,122 kilograms of cannabis in his possession. Furthermore, an additional 816 kilograms of the same substance, which belonged to a suspect who remains at large, were recovered from the same location on the same day.

Elsewhere in Nigeria, in Niger State, NDLEA operatives arrested another suspect, Friday Gabriel, on August 26 along the Minna-Suleja Road. Gabriel was found transporting a substantial quantity of narcotics, including 1,900 capsules of tramadol, 300 bottles of codeine syrup, and 600 packets of exol-5 tablets.

The NDLEA’s efforts to combat drug trafficking continued in Bauchi State, where on August 31, two suspects, Garba Muhammed, 35, and Usman Yakubu Shehu, 31, were arrested along the Bauchi-Gombe Road. They were caught transporting 308 blocks of cannabis, weighing 246.4 kilograms, concealed in a false compartment of a J5 bus marked Edo State URM 38 ZY.

Babafemi reiterated the NDLEA’s commitment to tackling drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria. He emphasized the agency’s dedication to maintaining the momentum in its fight against illicit drugs and ensuring that traffickers are brought to justice.

The series of arrests and seizures highlight the NDLEA’s ongoing operations to curb the spread of illicit drugs within Nigeria. The agency continues to work closely with other security agencies, both locally and internationally, to intercept drug shipments and apprehend those involved in the drug trade.

As the agency intensifies its efforts, it has urged the public to provide any information that could help in the fight against drug trafficking. The NDLEA remains committed to eradicating the drug menace in Nigeria and ensuring that all individuals involved are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The case of Oluwadamilola Aderinoye serves as a reminder that the agency is vigilant and determined to bring all culprits to justice, regardless of their status or past achievements.