The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has broken up a drug trafficking network that attempted to exploit the Hajj pilgrimage as a front for smuggling cocaine into Saudi Arabia.
Two alleged couriers, Ibrahim Umar Mustapha and Muhammad Siraj Shifado, were apprehended at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on 26 May. The pair were preparing to board Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 940 to Jeddah when body scanners revealed they had ingested illicit substances.
Each suspect later excreted 45 pellets of cocaine, bringing the total haul to 90 wraps weighing 1.04 kilogrammes.
In the days following their arrest, NDLEA operatives tracked down and detained three suspected leaders of the syndicate, Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Muhammed Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba, on 27 and 28 May in Kano.
A separate operation at the same airport on 28 May led to the arrest of 60-year-old businessman Chinedu Leonard Okigbo. Okigbo was travelling to Iran on Qatar Airways Flight QR1432, having swallowed 65 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.41 kilogrammes.
Meanwhile, in a joint operation with the Nigeria Customs Service, NDLEA intercepted seven containers filled with illicit opioids at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, between 28 and 30 May.
The containers were found to hold 825,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup and Trodol, valued at ₦5.78 billion. Additionally, 5.1 million tablets of tapentadol (225mg) were recovered, worth an estimated ₦3.57 billion. The total street value of the seized drugs was pegged at ₦9.35 billion.
On 30 May, two men, Abubakar Hussein, 42, and Sahabi Adamu, 53, were stopped on the Kano–Maiduguri Road with $900,000 in suspected counterfeit currency. The pair, along with the forged cash, were handed over to the relevant authorities for further investigation.
Elsewhere, on 27 May, NDLEA officers recovered 390 blocks of cannabis, weighing 275.3 kilogrammes, from an abandoned Toyota Sienna along the Ngurore–Yola Road in Adamawa State.
In Ilorin, Kwara State, a well-known female drug dealer, Alhaja Mutiat Abdul-Fatai, was arrested on 31 May in the Oja Oba area. Seized substances included tramadol, flunitrazepam, and codeine-based syrup.
Alongside enforcement operations, the NDLEA continued its public education efforts under the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign. Drug prevention lectures were delivered at schools in Katsina, Enugu, Anambra, Kano, and Cross River states.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retired), praised the agency’s personnel for their commitment and success across the various missions.
“I commend the gallant officers and men of the MAKIA, PHPC, Kano, Kwara, and Adamawa Commands for their successful operations,” Marwa stated.
He reaffirmed the agency’s resolve to curb both the supply of and demand for illicit drugs nationwide.