Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA has nabbed a 56-year-old trafficker, Lawal Lateef Oyenuga.

Oyenuga was on a mission to deliver 400grams of the class A drug concealed in a pair of palm sandals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the weekend when he was arrested.

A statement by NDLEA spokesman, Mr Femi Babafemi on Sunday announced in a statement said the swift follow up arrest of a wanted notorious kingpin, Wasiu Sanni Gbolahan popularly known as Teacher, who recruits mules for the cartel.

NDLEA operatives attached to the screening point of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos had on Thursday 24th November intercepted Lawal Lateef Oyenuga with a pair of black palm sandals packed in the luggage he was going with to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airways flight.

A thorough examination of the sandals revealed they were used to conceal two parcels of cocaine weighing 400 grams, according to the statement.

The feat was achieved barely one week after a 56-year-old widow and mother of four, Mrs. Ajisegiri Kehinde Sidika was arrested at the airport over her attempt to traffic 400 grams of cocaine concealed in her footwear to Makkah, Saudi Arabia on board a Qatar Airways flight.

The statement also said Oyenuga claimed he was recruited to traffic the drug by Wasiu Sanni Gbolahan popularly known as Teacher.

He told NDLEA agents that he was first given some pellets of cocaine to swallow but when he couldn’t do that, then he was given the ones concealed in the palm sandals.

He said he resorted to the criminal trade to raise money to pay an examination fee for his daughter who is in Senior Secondary School class 3.

The agency’s database, according to Babafemi revealed that Wasiu Sanni (Teacher) has been linked to some previous attempts to traffic cocaine to Saudi Arabia and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

He was earlier named as the one who recruited a BRT driver, Bolajoko Muyiwa Babalola for Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz Hotels, Alhaji Ademola Afolabi Kazeem (a.k.a Alhaji Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed) to traffic drugs to Dubai. Bolajoko was arrested on 27th June while taking 900 grams of cocaine to Dubai while Ademola Kazeem was nabbed on Thursday 10th November, barely 10 days after he was declared wanted by NDLEA.

A follow up operation in the early hours of Friday 25th November led to the arrest of the kingpin, Teacher, who specialises in recruiting mules for drug barons in Lagos and its environs at his residence located in Ikorodu area of Lagos. The 64-year-old Wasiu Sanni Gbolahan is a housing and property agent, with seven children and four wives, one of whom is now late.

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