Rafiu Elele |
According to First Weekly Magazine's vol. 9 edition 13, on Sunday March 14, 2013, it was reported that the cookie
has finally crumbled as the chicken has finally come home to roost for top
socialite and merry-go-happy guy, Rafiu Elele as the curtain has finally been
drawn on his drug trade by the Interpol.
Reports
reaching us indicated that Rafiu a.k.a Elele, who is a popular and undisputed
heavyweight of the illicit drug, was extradited to the United States of America
for trial recently.
Rafiu Elele,
who has for long been on the wanted list of the Interpol, was followed, hunted
and pursued also by the U.S law enforcement agents for years.
On several
occasions, the top socialite, who is a close associate of a leading Fuji Lord,
King Wasiu Ayinde a.k.a K1 De Ultimate, came within seconds of being nabbed by
the drug law agents in Chicago, but managed to escape in a near miraculous ways
that made residents of Chicago in the United States conclude that he may actually
possess African traditional powers; “voodoo” and “charms.”
A clear case
of his near invisibility was on one afternoon in Chicago, the U.S policemen,
acting on reliable surveillance evidence, followed Elele to Kato African
Restaurant located on North Clark Street and Touhy Avenue.
It was a
done deal, they thought, but after having surrounded the restaurant, they
entered the restaurant, ordered every patron at the restaurant to remain
inside, with the entire door shut, they combed the entire building for Elele
without success and had to leave without making the arrest.
Reports said
that Elele, the fox had infact left the restaurant few minutes before the drug
enforcement agents could get their acts together during the final phase of
taking positions at the restaurant.
Other
accounts of the incident maintained that Rafiu was actually cornered in the
restaurant but disappeared through some magical power.
Elele is a
well-liked drug fugitive within the Nigerian community in Chicago either
because of his humility and respect for others, especially those older than him
in age or his general disposition towards people in need.
He was
reported to have sneaked out of the United States into Canada over eight years
ago, when the heat became unbearable through the relentless determination of
the U.S agents to arrest him.
In Canada, a
country, whose drug laws is still evolving; Elele saw a more accommodating
environment for his activities and within a short period has risen quickly as
the ultimate brain behind illicit drug trafficking into and out of Canada.
While
running his trade in Canada, he lived in Brampton, Toronto, reports had it
that, Asylum seekers facilities in Canada became his major channel in his
trade.
The Canadian
authorities later learnt about Rafiu's alleged drug activities and a plan was
hatched to get him arrested.
A source in
Toronto told us that once the Canadian police got a very reliable hint that he
was hiding in the basement of a house, the information turned out to be true,
the place was surrounded just like it happened in Chicago, so it was in
Toronto, Elele was several miles ahead.
He was
reportedly moved from Toronto and driven in the trunk of a car for several
hours to Montreal as the security officers at Pearson Airport; Toronto were
keeping a vigil for him. It was from Montreal Airport that he made his escape
from Canada.
Rather than
live a quiet life and under the radar, we learnt that Elele relocated his stock
in trade and his skill to South Africa after a brief stay in Lagos.
In South
Africa, we learnt that Elele, who is haunted now by three countries (the U.S,
Canada and South Africa) for alleged drug related offences and money
laundering, finally got the attention of the Interpol as a person, who must be
brought to book.
The Interpol
finally succeeded in arresting him in Lagos and extraditing him to the U.S as
the first country to try him before he is released to other countries also for
trial.
He is
currently somewhere in Washington DC jail awaiting trial accordingly to source.
Close
friends of Elele are however, trying to make a strong case for him that people
are just trying to give a dog a bad name just to hang it; they reasoned that
Rafiu is a gentle and responsible socialite, married to a woman from a very
prominent family in Lagos.
“They are
all lies, he will be freed, we are waiting for the so-called trial to start,
people who carried drugs on their own to make money, but got caught are now saying he owns their
stuff. That is the style of Nigerians here in America, once someone is out of
the radar and anything happens, the person is ultimately sacrificed,” said a
source.
(c) First Weekly Magazine
(c) First Weekly Magazine
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