Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have uncovered and dismantled a drug syndicate that sponsors Hajj pilgrims as couriers to smuggle hard drugs into Saudi Arabia during the annual pilgrimage.
The agency, in a statement, said the operation followed the arrest of key members of the cartel in Kano.
According to the NDLEA, the arrest of the kingpins — Abubakar Muhammad, Abdulhakeem Muhammed Tijjani, and Muhammad Aji Shugaba — on Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th May 2025 in Kano, was a follow-up to the earlier apprehension of two pilgrims: Ibrahim Umar Mustapha and Muhammad Siraj Shifado.
The duo were intercepted at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, on Monday 26th May during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 940 to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Their interdiction occurred at the NDLEA’s final screening point at the airport, based on credible intelligence.
“When they were taken for scanning, the results confirmed they had ingested illicit substances,” the statement said. “They were subsequently placed under excretion observation, during which each of them excreted 45 wraps of cocaine, totaling 90 pellets with a combined weight of 1.04kg.”
Further investigations reportedly led to the identification of their sponsors, who were uncovered as leaders of a notorious drug trafficking network operating out of Kano, with a specialization in smuggling illicit substances to Saudi Arabia.
A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of the three cartel leaders over two days.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives at the Kano airport on Wednesday 28th May also intercepted a 60-year-old businessman, Chinedu Leonard Okigbo, during the outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR1432 to Iran.
“His body scan confirmed he had ingested illicit drugs. He was placed on excretion observation and subsequently excreted 65 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.41kg,” the agency said.
The NDLEA has reiterated its commitment to intensifying screening at airports and bringing drug traffickers and their sponsors to justice.
