Men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a Lekki-based artiste’s manager and his accomplice, an Ikoyi businessman, both of whom were said to specialise in the distribution of illicit drugs to fun seekers at highbrow night clubs and lounges in the Lekki and other areas on the Island of Lagos State.
Their arrests followed an intelligence-led operation about a shipment of Colorado,
a strong synthetic strain of cannabis coming from Los Angeles, United States.
Making the development known in a statement on Sunday, the spokesperson for the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, noted that Oseni Babatunde (aka Papalampa) was the first to be arrested in his house at No. 3, Ope Daniel Taiwo Street, off Chisco Bus-Stop, in the Lekki area of the state, when the consignment arrived on Sunday, July 23.
“During a preliminary interview with the suspect, he confessed that he started the illicit trade three years ago and has been selling to patrons of clubs and lounges in Lekki and Lagos Island, some of which he identified as Quilox, Silver Fox, DNA and Hotbox,” Babafemi said.
He noted that Babatunde further revealed that besides the drug business, he also organised shows for artistes across the state and outside Nigeria.
Meanwhile, a total of 10 parcels of Colorado weighing 2.50kgs, concealed inside large tins of coffee and duvets linked to Babatunde were intercepted by the NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
During a follow-up search of his residence, operatives recovered some quantities of the same substance, a digital weighing scale and other paraphernalia.
Also, his accomplice, an Ikoyi-based businessman, Nnadi Ikenna, was linked to the shipment and was away in South Africa when the consignment arrived.
“While operatives maintained surveillance around his 18, Okotie Eboh Close, Ikoyi residence, they also set their dragnet for him at the airport.
“He eventually arrived in the waiting arms of the NDLEA officers on Thursday, July 27, when he returned to the country on a Kenya Airline flight at the Lagos airport. Ikenna, in his statement, accepted ownership of a part of the consignment,” Babafemi said.