The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a wanted drug kingpin and Lagos socialite, 61-year-old Alhaja Aishat Feyisara Ajoke Elediye, in her mansion in the Okota area of Lagos State following the interception of a truckload illicit drug consignment from her staff.

NDLEA officers arrested the wanted socialite in Lagos on Wednesday, January 1, 2025.

The spokesperson for the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, January 5.

Babafemi stated that Elediye, known in the drug underworld as “Iya Ruka”, has had her true identity shrouded in mystery for years while she remained on the wanted list of NDLEA for leading one of the drug cartels operating from the Mushin area of Lagos.

Babafemi said the lid was however blown off her invincibility on January 1 when NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence intercepted a white Izuzu truck carrying 44 jumbo sacks containing 1,540 kilograms of imported cannabis and driven by one of Elediye’s staff, 41-year-old Abideen Adio.

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He noted: “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 is a massive illicit drug trade. She is also recognised as the Iyalaje of Blessing Sisters, an influential club of society women in Lagos.”

Babafemi added that the NDLEA officers, in another operation on Friday, December 27, 2024, arrested a US-trained Hollywood and Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Emmanuel Mbadiwe.

He disclosed that Mbadiwe was arrested at his Lekki Hotel room following the arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James, on Friday at a warehouse in Ajao estate in Ikeja, where he was sent by Mbadiwe to collect a shipment of 33 parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis weighing 17.30 kilograms.

Babafemi revealed that illicit drugs concealed in large wooden boxes arrived at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja from the United States on a Delta Airline flight on December 24, 2024.

The Star