…NDLEA operatives acted on credible intelligence and subjected the pilgrims to a body scan
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has successfully dismantled a criminal syndicate that specialized in sponsoring Hajj pilgrims as drug couriers to Saudi Arabia, iNews Times reports.
Three key leaders of the syndicate, Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba, were arrested in Kano following a series of operations.
The breakthrough came after two intending pilgrims, Ibrahim Mustapha and Muhammad Shifado, were intercepted at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on May 26 with 90 cocaine pellets.
The NDLEA operatives acted on credible intelligence and subjected the pilgrims to a body scan, which confirmed ingestion of illicit substances.
The suspects subsequently excreted 45 wraps of cocaine each, totaling 90 pellets weighing 1.04kg.
In a related development, a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, was arrested at the same airport with 65 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.41kg.
The NDLEA also seized a massive haul of codeine-based syrup and trodol valued at ₦9.35 billion at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex.
In other operations, the agency intercepted $900,000 in suspected counterfeit currency in Kano, discovered 275.3kg of compressed skunk cannabis blocks in Adamawa State, and arrested a notorious female drug dealer in Kwara State with various quantities of opioids.
The NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), commended the agency’s operatives for their commitment to tackling drug trafficking and maintaining a strategic balance between drug supply reduction and demand reduction efforts.
