The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said its operatives have uncovered and dismantled a syndicate that sponsors hajj pilgrims who also serve as couriers to move cocaine to Saudi Arabia during pilgrimage.
NDLEA said the development followed the arrest of leaders of the cartel in Kano.
According to the agency, the arrest of the kingpins identified as Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Muhammed Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba in Kano was a follow-up to the arrest of two pilgrims: Ibrahim Umar Mustapha and Muhammad Siraj Shifado at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, on Monday.
This was made known in a statement issued on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja.
Babafemi said the interdiction of the intending pilgrims at the NDLEA final screening point at the Kano airport was based on credible intelligence.
The NDLEA spokesman disclosed that the result confirmed ingestion of illicit substances when the suspects were taken for scanning.
“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 1.04kg.
“Investigation soon unraveled their sponsors as leaders of a notorious drug trafficking network, which specializes in trafficking illicit drugs to Saudi Arabia. A swift follow-up operation was carried out, and the trio of Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Muhammed Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba were arrested on Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th May 2025 in Kano,” Babafemi said.
Meanwhile, in a related development, NDLEA operatives at the Kano airport on Wednesday 28th May intercepted a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR1432 to Iran, Babafemi announced.
NDLEA stated that the suspect’s 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 1.41kg.
At the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, Rivers State, Babafemi disclosed that no fewer than seven watch-listed containers were positioned for joint examination by NDLEA officers, men of Customs Service, and other security agencies between Wednesday 28th and Friday 30th May.
He announced that 825,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup and Trodol worth Five Billion Seven Hundred and Seventy-Six Million Four Hundred Thousand Naira Only (N5,776,400,000) in street value were seized, while a total of Five Million One Hundred Thousand (5,100,000) pills of opioids, especially tapentadol 225mg, worth Three Billion Five Hundred and Seventy Million Naira Only (N3,570,000,000) were recovered during the operation.
According to the statement, this brings the combined street value of the opioids to Nine Billion Three Hundred and Forty-Six Million Four Hundred Thousand Naira Only (N9,346,400,000.00).
In another operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives on patrol along Kano-Maiduguri road on Friday 30th May intercepted the duo of Abubakar Hussein, 42, and Sahabi Adamu, 53, with Nine Hundred Thousand US Dollars ($900,000) cash suspected to be counterfeit. The suspects and the exhibit will be transferred to the appropriate agency for further investigation.
While a total of 390 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 275.300kg, were recovered from a parked Toyota Sienna vehicle marked YLA-408GG along Ngurore-Yola road, Adamawa State, on Tuesday 27th May, NDLEA operatives in Kwara on Saturday 31st May 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.
Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of MAKIA, PHPC, Kano, Kwara, and Adamawa Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
Marwa 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.
NDLEA busts syndicate, arrests three suspects sponsoring pilgrims with cocaine to hajj in Kano
