Aderinoye Queen Christmas, also known as Queen Oluwadamilola Aderinoye, a former beauty queen declared wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has voluntarily turned herself in to the Lagos State Command after evading arrest for nearly eight months.
The NDLEA had declared Aderinoye wanted after she fled her residence in a Lekki estate to avoid capture by operatives acting on intelligence reports of her alleged involvement in illegal drug activities.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, Aderinoye, who had been in hiding since a January 2024 raid linked her to drug trafficking, surrendered on August 28, 2024.
Aderinoye, who was crowned Miss Commonwealth Nigeria Culture 2015/2016 and is the founder of the Queen Christmas Foundation, had reportedly been hiding in Akure, Ondo State, following the raid.
During the operation at her home, NDLEA agents, accompanied by estate representatives, found 606 grams of Canadian Loud (a potent strain of synthetic cannabis), an electronic weighing scale, large quantities of drug packaging materials, and a black RAV 4 SUV with Lagos license plates.
In separate but related operations, NDLEA operatives seized 1,122 kilograms of cannabis from a suspect named Mustapha Ibrahim along Orchid Road in Ajah, Lagos State, on Monday, August 26. An additional 816 kilograms of cannabis was recovered at the same location from another suspect who remains at large.
Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), NDLEA Chairman and CEO, commended the agency’s officers for their dedication and vigilance. He emphasized the agency’s commitment to tackling drug-related crimes through strategies focused on both reducing drug demand and disrupting drug supply chains.
