Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have dismantled a syndicate that sent drug mules on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
According to the spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, the syndicate disguised as sponsors on holy pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia but the real intention was to use the pilgrims as couriers of cocaine to the holy land.
Babafemi said the kingpins: Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Muhammed Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba were arrested in Kano last Tuesday and Wednesday followed an earlier arrest on Monday of two pilgrims: Ibrahim Mustapha and Muhammad Shifado at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airline flight ET 940 to Jedda, Saudi Arabia.
He disclosed that the interdiction of the intending pilgrims at the NDLEA final screening point at the Kano airport was based on credible intelligence, noting that when they were taken for scanning, the result confirmed ingestion of illicit substances.
He said they 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 kilogrammes.
Babafemi said investigation soon unraveled their sponsors as leaders of a notorious drug trafficking network, which specializes in trafficking illicit drugs to Saudi Arabia, noting that a swift follow-up operation was carried out, and the trio of Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Tijjani, and Muhammad Shugaba were arrested last Tuesday and Wednesday in Kano.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives at the Kano airport last Wednesday intercepted a 60-year-old businessman Chinedu Okigbo during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR1432 to Iran. His 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 kilogrammes.
Babafemi said at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers state, no fewer than seven watch-listed containers were positioned for joint examination by NDLEA officers, men of Custom Service and other security agencies between last Wednesday and Friday, during which 825,200 bottles of codeine based syrup and trodol worth N5,776,400,000 in street value were seized while a total of 5.1 million pills of opioids especially tapentadol 225mg worth N3,570,000,000 were recovered, bringing the combined street value of the opioids to N9,346,400,000.00.
In another operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kano- Maiduguri road last Friday intercepted the duo of Abubakar Hussein, 42, and Sahabi Adamu, 53, with $900,000 cash suspected to be counterfeit. Babafemi said the suspects and the exhibit will be transferred to the appropriate agency for further investigation.
He said a total of 390 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 275.3 kilogrammes were recovered from a parked Toyota Sienna vehicle marked YLA-408GG along Ngurore-Yola road, Adamawa state last Tuesday, NDLEA operatives in Kwara on Saturday arrested a notorious female drug dealer, Alhaja Mutiat Abdul-Fatai at Oja Oba area of Ilorin where various quantities of opioids including tramadol, flunitrazepam and codeine-based syrup were seized from her.
The War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands equally continued across the country in the past week.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) while commending the officers and men of MAKIA, PHPC, Kano, Kwara, and Adamawa commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
Michael Olugbode
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