NDLEA Arrests Businessman at Kano Airport for Body Packing Large Consignment of Cocaine

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have thwarted an attempt by an import and export businessman, Olisaka Chibuzo, to smuggle 256 wraps of cocaine weighing 6 kilogrammes into the country through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano.
The spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday described the seizure as the single largest interception of cocaine at the Kano airport since the creation of MAKIA Command of NDLEA in 2006.

He said the seizure was made on Sunday 15th December 2024 during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 941 from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, noting that Olisaka 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.

Babafemi said a similar attempt by an ex-convict, Olanrewaju Akorede, to export a consignment of rohypnol to South Africa through the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, was equally frustrated by NDLEA officers at the airport, noting that consignment was hidden in a cargo containing gari, shoes, men’s singlets and other items.
He said Olarenwaju was convicted for a similar crime earlier this year following his arrest on 12th December 2023 for attempting to ship 4.9 kilogrammes of tramadol and 2.1 kilogrammes of rohypnol to South Africa through the export shed of the Lagos airport.

He said the suspect had earlier been 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.
Babafemi also revealed that an Italy-based businesswoman Cynthia Akaeen was last Wednesday arrested by NDLEA officers while trying to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Italy via Addis Ababa.
He said 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 kilogrammes were recovered from her. She revealed she was promised 1,000 Euros upon successful delivery of the consignment in Italy.
Babafemi also said no fewer than 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, last Tuesday, when NDLEA operatives raided the market following credible intelligence.

He said at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos, a total of 180,000 bottles of codeine syrup were recovered last Wednesday 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.
He also said 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 AbdulHamid, 37, was nabbed at Gwange area of the state capital with 260,000 capsules of the same psychoactive substance last Monday.

A 35-year-old suspect Modu Kolera was equally arrested last Wednesday at Custom area of Maiduguri with 8.5 kilogrammes 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.
He said while a suspect, Gafar Saminu, 30, was arrested last Wednesday 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 94 kilogrammes of same substance.

In Lagos, a consignment of 32 kilogrammes of ephedrine, a precursor chemical going to the South East was last Monday recovered at the Young Shall Grow Luxurious Vehicles Park, Maza-Maza.
Babafemi said with the same vigour, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.

Meanwhile, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd) while commending the officers and men of MAKIA, MMIA, Anambra, Borno, Lagos, Oyo, Enugu, and Tincan commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures, urged them and their compatriots across the country not to rest on their oars as they intensify their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.