NDLEA nabs cocaine smuggler at Kano airport

•Arrests ex-convict, businesswoman over drug shipments

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have thwarted attempt by an import and export businessman, Olisaka Chibuzo Calistus to smuggle 256 wraps of cocaine weighing 6 kilogrammes into the country through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano.

The seizure, which is the single largest interception of cocaine at the Kano airport since the creation of MAKIA Command of NDLEA in 2006, was made on Sunday, December 15, 2024 during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 941 from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Calistus, who claims to be into import and export business was subjected to body screening during which he was found to have packed hundreds of cocaine pellets in his body.

A similar attempt by an ex-convict, Olanrewaju Bada Akorede to export a consignment of rohypnol to South Africa through the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, was equally frustrated by NDLEA officers at the airport.

The consignment was hidden in a cargo containing gari, shoes, men’s singlets and other items.

Olarenwaju was convicted for a similar crime earlier this year following his arrest on December 12, 2023, for attempting to ship 4.90kg tramadol and 2.10kg rohypnol to South Africa through the export shed of the Lagos airport.

He was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos with an option to pay a fine of N900,000, which he paid and was freed before returning to repeat the same crime.

An Italy-based businesswoman Cynthia Akaeen was on Wednesday, December 18, arrested by NDLEA officers while trying to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Italy via Addis Ababa.

The suspect was intercepted at the departure point of terminal 2 of the Lagos airport during an outward clearance of passengers going to Italy.

A total of 9,190 tablets of various brands of tramadol weighing 6.00kg were recovered from her.

According to her, she was promised 1,000 Euros upon successful delivery of the consignment in Italy.

About 418,330 pills of tramadol 225mg, 100mg and tapentadol 250mg as well as 8,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup were recovered from a warehouse at a building material market in Onitsha, Anambra state on Tuesday, December 17, when NDLEA operatives raided the market following credible intelligence.

At the Tincan Island port in Lagos, a total of 180,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered on Wednesday, December 18, from a container, which originated from Mundra, India.

The seizure was made during a joint examination of the container by men of NDLEA, Customs, DSS, police, and other security agencies at the port, while a suspect Makata Emmanuel, who is the consignee and notify party, was promptly taken into custody.

A total of 293,000 capsules of tramadol, a pistol and 26 rounds of 7.65mm live ammunition were recovered from the duo of Ishaya Wabba, 54, and Samaila Audu, 44, when they were arrested in a Toyota Sienna bus at Pompomari Bypass, Maiduguri, Borno State, while another suspect Sanusi Abdul Hamid, 37, was nabbed at Gwange area of the state capital with 260, 000 capsules of the same psychoactive substance on Monday, December 16.

A 35-year-old suspect Modu Kolera was equally arrested on Wednesday, December 18, at Custom area of Maiduguri with 8.5kg cannabis; 5,000 pills of tramadol; 7,500 tabs of diazepam; 14,500 tablets of exol and 50 litres of ‘suck and die’, a new psychoactive substance, in his Volkswagen Golf car marked DKW 812 AA.

While a suspect Gafar Saminu, 30, was arrested on Wednesday, December 18, with 33.5 kilogrammes of Cannabis sativa, at Ayete, Oyo State, NDLEA operatives in Enugu same day raided the Aria new market where they recovered 94kg of same substance.

In Lagos, a consignment of 32 kilogrammes of ephedrine, a precursor chemical going to the South East was on Monday, December 16, recovered at the Young Shall Grow Luxurious Vehicles Park, Maza-maza.