The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has dismantled a major drug trafficking syndicate in Kano State that specialized in sponsoring Hajj pilgrims as drug couriers to Saudi Arabia.
This breakthrough came after the arrest of three key suspects—Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba—who were picked up during follow-up operations on May 27 and 28, 2025.
Their arrests followed the earlier interception of two intending pilgrims at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport on May 26. The suspects, identified as Ibrahim Mustapha and Muhammad Shifado, were attempting to board Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 940 to Jeddah when NDLEA operatives, acting on intelligence, subjected them to body scans which revealed they had ingested illicit drugs.
“They were placed under observation and each excreted 45 wraps of cocaine, totaling 90 pellets weighing 1.04 kilograms,” NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, revealed in a statement on Sunday.
Further investigations led to the identification and arrest of the three alleged sponsors, described as ringleaders of a notorious drug network operating out of Kano.
In a separate operation at the same airport on May 28, NDLEA officials apprehended a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, as he was about to board a Qatar Airways flight to Iran. He was also found to have ingested narcotics. “During observation, the suspect excreted 65 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.41 kilograms,” Babafemi stated.
Meanwhile, a joint inspection carried out at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex in Onne, Rivers State, between May 28 and 30 uncovered a massive consignment of illicit pharmaceutical drugs. “Operatives seized 825,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup and trodol, alongside 5.1 million tablets of tapentadol 225mg. The total street value is estimated at ₦9.35 billion,” Babafemi said.
Also in Kano, two individuals—Abubakar Hussein (42) and Sahabi Adamu (53)—were intercepted with $900,000 in suspected counterfeit currency on the Kano-Maiduguri Road on May 30. The case has been handed over to the appropriate authorities for further investigation.
In Adamawa State, the agency recovered 390 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa, weighing 275.3kg, abandoned in a Toyota Sienna van along the Ngurore–Yola Road.
In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives arrested a well-known female drug dealer, Alhaja Mutiat Abdul-Fatai, at Oja Oba in Ilorin. “Various quantities of opioids, including tramadol, flunitrazepam, and codeine syrup, were recovered from her home,” Babafemi disclosed.
Reacting to the series of successful operations, NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), praised the agency’s operatives for their vigilance and dedication.
“These arrests and seizures show the agency’s unyielding commitment to curbing drug trafficking in Nigeria. I commend our teams in Kano, Port Harcourt, Kwara, and Adamawa for their strategic interventions,” Marwa stated.
He added that the NDLEA remains committed to striking a balance between drug supply reduction and demand control strategies across the nation.
