A former beauty queen, Ms. Aderinoye Queen Christmas, also known as Ms. Queen Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, has surrendered to the Lagos Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) after eight months in hiding.
Aderinoye, who was crowned Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and is the founder of the Queen Christmas Foundation, had been declared wanted by the NDLEA in January 2024.
She was declared wanted in January after escaping from her residence during a raid by NDLEA operatives, who recovered 606 grams of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drug packing plastics, a black RAV 4 SUV marked Lagos KSF 872 GQ, and her picture frame.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s spokesman, in a statement on Sunday said Aderinoye, who claimed to have been hiding in Akure, Ondo State, surrendered to the agency on August 28.
He said in a separate incident, NDLEA operatives seized 1,122 kilograms of cannabis from a suspect, Mustapha Ibrahim, on August 26, and 816kg of cannabis from the same location, belonging to a suspect still at large.
In Niger state, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives arrested a suspect, Friday Gabriel, on August 26, while conveying 1,900 capsules of tramadol, 300 bottles of codeine syrup, and 600 packets of exol-5 tablets.
In Bauchi State, he added that operatives arrested two suspects, Garba Muhammed, 35, and Usman Yakubu Shehu, 31, on August 31, while transporting 308 blocks of cannabis weighing 246.4kg.
He said the NDLEA also continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities across the country, targeting schools, communities, and workplaces.
Chairman/Chief Executive, NDLEA ,Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers involved in the operations for their professionalism and vigilance, and praised the support received from stakeholders.
