00:00Nigeria Anti-Inlicit Drugs Police, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA have arrested two pilgrims who ingested quantities of cocaine at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano State alongside their sponsors who had planned to travel to Saudi Arabia for the 2025 hajj.
00:19Details of the report and other news as made available by Femi Baba Femi, the Director of Media and Advocacy Department of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA reads verbatim below.
00:32Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have uncovered and dismantled a syndicate that sponsors hajj pilgrims who also serve as couriers to move cocaine to Saudi Arabia during pilgrimage.
00:47This followed the arrest of leaders of the cartel in Kano.
00:51The arrest of the kingpins, Abu Bakr Muhammad, Abdul-Hakim Muhammad Tajani, and Muhammad R.G. Shigaba on Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th May 2025 in Kano was a follow-up to the arrest of two pilgrims,
01:06Ibrahim Umar Mustafa and Muhammad Seraj Shafado at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano on Monday 26th May during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian airline flight ET940 to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
01:23The interdiction of the intending pilgrims at the NDLEA final screening point at the Kano airport was based on credible intelligence.
01:32When they were taken for scanning, the result confirmed ingestion of illicit substances.
01:38They were subsequently placed on excretion observation during which they excreted 45 wraps of cocaine each, bringing the total for both to 90 pellets with a total weight of 1.04 kilogram.
01:51Investigation soon unraveled their sponsors as leaders of a notorious drug trafficking network, which specializes in trafficking illicit drugs to Saudi Arabia.
02:01A swift follow-up operation was carried out, and the trio of Abu Bakr Muhammad, Abdul-Hakim Muhammad Tajani, and Muhammad R.G. Shigaba were arrested on Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th May 2025 in Kano.
02:16In a related development, NDLEA operatives at the Kano airport on Wednesday 28th May intercepted a 60-year-old businessman Shindu Leonard Akigbo during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR1432 to Iran.
02:33His body scan confirmed he ingested illicit substances as a result of which he was placed on excretion observation during which he excreted 65 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.41 kilogram.
02:45At the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, on a river state, no fewer than 7 watch-listed containers were positioned for joint examination by NDLEA officers, men of Custom Service and other security agencies between Wednesday 28th and Friday 30th May, during which 825,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup and tridol worth $5,776,400,000.
03:12$5,776,400,000 only, $5,776,400,000 in street value were seized while a total of $5,100,000.
03:27$5,100,000 pills of opioids especially tapantadol, $225 milligrams worth $3,570,000,000 only, $3,570,000,000 were recovered.
03:42This brings the combined street value of the opioids to $9,346,400,000 only, $9,346,400,000.00.
03:57In another operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kano Mediguri Road Friday 30th May intercepted the duo of Abu Bakr Hussein, 42, and Sahabi Adamu, 53, with $900,000, $900,000, cash suspected to be counterfeit.
04:18The suspects and the exhibit will be transferred to the appropriate agency for further investigation.
04:25While a total of 390 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 275.300 kilograms were recovered from a parked Toyota Sienna vehicle marked YLA-408GG along Ingarore, Yola Road,
04:41at Amarwa State on Tuesday 27th May, NDLEA operatives in Quara on Saturday 31st May arrested a notorious female drug dealer, Alhaja Mushid Abdul Fattah at Oya Oba area of Aloran where various quantities of opioids including tramadol, flunitrazepam and codeine-based syrup were seized from her.
05:03The war against drug abuse, WADA, social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands equally continued across the country in the past week.
05:14Some of them include, WADA sensitization lecture delivered to students and staff of Government Day Senior Secondary School, Kwasarawa, Katsina, Corpus Christi College,
05:25Achi, Enugu, Apignosys Standard College, Anitsha, Anamra, Government Girls Secondary School, Utai, Woodle Local Government Area, Kano, and Government Girls Secondary School, Calabar, Cross River, among others.
05:41While commending the officers and men of Makia, PHPC, Kano, Quara, and Adamawa commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week,
05:53Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Baba Mawa, retired, equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country
06:04for pursuing a fair balance between the drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts,
06:10Femi Baba Femi, Director, Media and Advocacy.
06:14NDLEA stated on Sunday, the 1st of June, 2025.
