The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has discovered and dismantled a criminal syndicate that specialises in sponsoring hajj pilgrims as drug couriers to Saudi Arabia, arresting three key cartel leaders in Kano.
The kingpins, Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba, were apprehended on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27 and 28, in follow-up operations after two intending pilgrims were arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, with 90 cocaine pellets.
Femi Babafemi, the agency’s spokesperson, said in a statement on Sunday during the outward clearance on Ethiopian Airlines aircraft ET 940 to Jeddah on May 26, the two suspects, Ibrahim Mustapha and Muhammad Shifado, were apprehended.
He claimed that the NDLEA agents acted on reliable information by having the pilgrims undergo a body scan, which verified that they had consumed illegal drugs.
Babafemi added that they were placed under excretion observation and subsequently excreted 45 wraps of cocaine each, totalling 90 pellets and weighing 1.04kg.
“An investigation soon unravelled their sponsors as leaders of a notorious drug trafficking network, which specialises 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 May 27 and 28, 2025 in Kano,” he added.
Babafemi added that a 60-year-old businessman named Chinedu Leonard Okigbo was detained by NDLEA officials at the same airport in Kano on Wednesday.
Babafemi said he was intercepted during the clearance for 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 1.41kg,” he added.
Babafemi added that between May 28 and May 30, operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports Complex, Onne, in Rivers State, jointly inspected seven containers on the watchlist.
He added that the operation yielded a massive haul of 825,200 bottles of codeine-based syrup and trodol, valued at N5.78bn, along with 5.1 million pills of tapentadol 225mg valued at N3.57bn —bringing the total street value to N9.35bn.
In another major bust also in Kano, Babafemi said the NDLEA operatives patrolling along the Kano-Maiduguri Road on May 30 intercepted Abubakar Hussein (42) and Sahabi Adamu (53) with $900,000 in suspected counterfeit currency.
He said the case had been transferred to the appropriate authorities for further investigation.
In Adamawa State, 390 compressed blocks of skunk cannabis weighing 275.3kg were discovered abandoned in a Toyota Sienna parked along Ngurore–Yola Road on Tuesday.
In Kwara State, he said a notorious female drug dealer, Alhaja Mutiat Abdul-Fatai, was arrested on May 31 at the Oja Oba area of Ilorin.
“Various quantities of opioids, including tramadol, flunitrazepam, and codeine-based syrup, were recovered from her residence,” he added.
Commending the agency’s operatives for their commitment, the NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) praised the commands at the MAKIA, PHPC, Kano, Kwara, and Adamawa for their recent achievements.
He also praised officers nationwide for keeping a strategic balance between drug supply reduction and demand reduction efforts.
