Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered and dismantled a syndicate that sponsors Hajj pilgrims to serve as couriers for cocaine trafficking to Saudi Arabia.
This breakthrough followed the arrest of the cartel’s leaders in Kano. The kingpins, Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Muhammad Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba, were apprehended on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27 and 28, 2025, in Kano.
Their arrests came after two pilgrims, Ibrahim Umar Mustapha and Muhammad Siraj Shifado, were detained on Monday, May 26, at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport during outward clearance for Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 940 to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
According to NDLEA, the interdiction at the final screening point was based on credible intelligence. When the two pilgrims were scanned, results confirmed ingestion of illicit substances. They were placed under excretion observation, during which they expelled 45 wraps of cocaine each, totalling 90 pellets with a combined weight of 1.04kg.
Further investigation revealed the sponsors as leaders of a notorious drug trafficking network specialising in moving illicit drugs to Saudi Arabia. The swift follow-up operation led to the arrests of the three cartel leaders.
In another development, NDLEA operatives at the Kano airport on Wednesday, May 28, intercepted a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, during outward clearance for Qatar Airways flight QR1432 to Iran. A body scan confirmed he had ingested illicit substances. He was placed under observation and excreted 65 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.41kg.
Meanwhile, at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State, a joint operation between NDLEA officers, Customs, and other security agencies from Wednesday to Friday, May 28 to 30, led to the seizure of 825,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup and trodol worth N5.7 billion. Additionally, 5.1 million pills of opioids, including tapentadol 225mg, valued at N3.5 billion, were recovered, bringing the combined street value of the opioids to N9.3 billion.
Elsewhere, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Kano-Maiduguri road on Friday, May 30, intercepted two suspects, Abubakar Hussein, 42, and Sahabi Adamu, 53, with $900,000 cash suspected to be counterfeit. The suspects and the exhibit will be transferred to the appropriate agency for further investigation.
In Adamawa State, operatives recovered 390 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 275.3kg, from a parked Toyota Sienna vehicle marked YLA-408GG along Ngurore-Yola road on Tuesday, May 27.
Additionally, in Kwara State, NDLEA operatives arrested a notorious female drug dealer, Alhaja Mutiat Abdul-Fatai, at the Oja Oba area of Ilorin on Saturday, May 31. Various quantities of opioids, including tramadol, flunitrazepam, and codeine-based syrup, were seized from her.
