NDLEA arrests popular Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, Afolabi Kazeem over alleged money laundering, drug trafficking
Afolabi Kazeem, a wanted Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over offences bordering on exportation and trafficking of illicit drugs as well as money laundering.
The NDLEA had declared Kazeem wanted over alleged illicit drug trafficking.
The agency said Kazeem was declared wanted after he failed to honour NDLEA invitations and a subsequent order from a Federal High Court in Lagos.
NDLEA accused the Lagos socialite of sponsoring some illicit drug traffickers recently arrested while attempting to export cocaine to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The agency disclosed that the socialite went underground after the arrest of one Bolujoko Muyiwa Babalola in June, a Lagos BRT driver, who acts as his mule.
Mr Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy in a statement on Sunday said the suspect was arrested 10 days after he was declared wanted.
Babafemi explained that the search for him paid off on Thursday, November 10 when he was successfully taken into custody where he is currently being interrogated.
He said, “Ten days after he was declared wanted, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested fleeing Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, Alhaji Ademola Afolabi Kazeem (a.k.a Alhaji Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed) over offences bordering on exportation and trafficking of illicit drugs as well as money laundering.
“The Agency had on Tuesday 1st November declared the suspect wanted following his failure to honour NDLEA invitations and an order granted by a Federal High Court in Lagos. The wanted drug kingpin was uncovered as the sponsor of some traffickers arrested by the anti-narcotics agency in their recent attempt to export cocaine to Dubai, UAE and other destinations outside Nigeria.
“The search for him however paid off on Thursday, 10th Nov when he was successfully taken into custody where he is currently being interviewed. His lid was blown open after the arrest of one of his mules, Bolujoko Muyiwa Babalola, a Lagos BRT driver on 27th June at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, when he named Alhaji Ademola Kazeem, alias Adekaz as the owner of the 900grams of cocaine he ingested.”
“Following Adekaz’s failure to honour invitations sent to him, the Agency approached a Federal High Court in Lagos with three prayers: to attach and seal his identified properties in choice areas of Lagos Island and Ibadan; declare him wanted and block his bank account with a cash balance of Two Hundred and Seventeen Million Naira (N217,000,000.00), all of which were granted,” he added.
