Former Beauty Queen Wanted for Drug Trafficking Surrenders After Eight Months on the Run

A former beauty queen, Ms. Aderinoye Queen Christmas, also known as Ms. Queen Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, has turned herself in to the Lagos Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) after spending eight months in hiding. The NDLEA had declared her wanted in January following a raid on her residence in Lekki, Lagos, where she narrowly escaped arrest.

Ms. Aderinoye, who once held the title of Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016, surrendered to the authorities on Wednesday, August 28th. She had been hiding in Akure, Ondo State, since January, according to a statement from the NDLEA’s Director of Media & Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi.

The trouble began for the former beauty queen when NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence, raided her apartment in Oral Estate, Lekki, on January 24th. During the raid, the agents discovered 606 grams of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, along with an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drug packaging materials, and other incriminating items, including her black RAV 4 SUV.

Mr. Babafemi explained that the NDLEA had gathered sufficient evidence of Ms. Aderinoye’s involvement in illicit drug activities, leading to her being declared wanted. “Her surrender marks a significant step in our ongoing efforts to bring drug traffickers to justice,” Babafemi stated.

In related news, the NDLEA has made several other significant drug busts in recent days. On Monday, August 26th, a suspect named Mustapha Ibrahim was arrested in Ajah, Lagos, with 1,122 kilograms of cannabis. That same day, NDLEA operatives recovered an additional 816 kilograms of cannabis from the same location, belonging to a suspect who is still at large.

The agency’s operations have extended beyond Lagos. In Niger State, NDLEA officers arrested a suspect named Friday Gabriel along the Minna-Suleja road on August 26th. Gabriel was found in possession of 1,900 capsules of tramadol, 300 bottles of codeine syrup, and 600 packets of exol-5 tablets.

Moreover, in Bauchi State, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Garba Muhammed, 35, and Usman Yakubu Shehu, 31, on August 31st. The suspects were caught transporting 308 blocks of cannabis, weighing 246.4 kilograms, hidden in a false compartment of a J5 bus.