US-trained Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Mbadiwe arrested over drug in Lagos

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, have arrested a motivational speaker and US-trained Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Mbadiwe, in Lagos.

In a statement by the Spokesperson of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi on Sunday revealed that Mbadiwe was apprehended in a Lekki hotel following the arrest of his associate, Uzoekwe Ugochukwu James.

“NDLEA officers on Friday, December 27, 2024, arrested a US-trained Hollywood and Nollywood filmmaker, Emeka Mbadiwe, who is also a motivational speaker at his Lekki Hotel room following the arrest of his partner, Uzoekwe James.

“James was arrested the same day at a warehouse in Ajao Estate, 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, which arrived at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja on December 24, 2024, from the United States on a Delta Airline flight, concealed in large wooden boxes,” the statement added.

He said operatives also cracked down on a ring of young dealers producing drug-laced cupcakes in Ilorin.

Babafemi said, “In Kwara State, a fresh graduate, Khadijat Abdulraheem, 24, and a 20-year-old student of the University of Ilorin, Ayomide Morakinyo, were on Sunday, December 29, 2024, arrested by the NDLEA operatives at the Tanke-University of Ilorin Road, Oke Odo, Ilorin based on credible intelligence that they were producing and selling drug-laced cupcakes to students in the community.

“When their apartment was searched, 42 pieces of drugged cakes were recovered from them.”

In another operation, Babafemi said an ex-convict, Sodade Eniola, was rearrested for passport racketeering after being released from prison in June 2024.

Sodade had paid a fine of N750,000 for drug trafficking but was discovered to be part of a syndicate smuggling passports concealed in shoe soles and food items.

“An ex-convict, Sodade Eniola, who was arrested by operatives of the Tincan Command of NDLEA in June 2024, for drug trafficking, prosecuted and sentenced to four years in prison has been arrested again by officers of the MMIA Strategic Command of the agency for passport racketeering.

“When he was convicted by a Federal High Court in Lagos on June 14, 2024, the trial judge gave him an option of paying a N750,000 fine, which he paid and was let go,” the statement added.

In Port Harcourt, Babafemi said 316,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup were intercepted during a joint operation with Customs officers on December 31, 2024.