The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has declared Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade (alias Abdul Qassim Adisa Balogun) and Rashidat Ayinke Owoalade (alias Bolarinwa Rashidat Ayinke) wanted for allegedly operating a cocaine cartel from India. This announcement follows the arrest of four syndicate members in Lagos.
The NDLEA recovered a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and sealed two houses linked to the syndicate for forfeiture to the Federal Government. According to a statement from NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, two syndicate members, Imran Taofeek Olalekan and Ishola Isiaka Olalekan, were arrested on April 3, 2024, while attempting to export 3.40kg of cocaine on a Qatar Airlines flight to Oman through Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Imran was the courier, and Ishola recruited him for the cartel leader, identified as Alhaji Kazeem Omogoriola Owoalade, who resides in India under the name Abdul Qassim Adisa Balogun. After five weeks of surveillance, another syndicate member, Hamed Abimbola Saheed, was arrested on May 14 in Abule Egba, Lagos. Saheed had lodged Imran in a hotel before his attempted trip to Oman and escorted him and Ishola to the airport on the day of their arrest.
A search of Saheed's house yielded 900 grams of phenacetine, a cocaine cutting agent. Saheed admitted this was what remained from the consignment Imran was transporting.
Further operations at the Owoalade couple's home at 20 Eyiaro Street, Ogudu Orioke, Lagos, led to the arrest of another suspect and the seizure of a Toyota RAV4 SUV belonging to Rashidat, along with 400 grams of cocaine, prepared suitcases for drug concealment, digital weighing scales, and other drug paraphernalia.
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