Crimes

NDLEA arrests Saudi-bound woman with cocaine at Kano airport

The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 45-year-old woman, Bilkisu Mohammed Bello, with pellets of cocaine while preparing to board a Saudia Airlines flight to Saudi Arabia at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano State.

This was disclosed via a statement issued by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, October 8, 2023.

He stated that the woman while being interviewed, confessed that the pellets of cocaine given to her to swallow before her flight to Saudi Arabia were kept in a house in the Farawa area of Kano.

Babafemi added that 52 wraps of the illicit substance with a total weight of 767 grams were recovered after Bello led the NDLEA officers to the house.

He disclosed that the NDLEA operatives, supported by officers of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and Amotekun personnel, on Tuesday, October 3, stormed James town in Ogunmakin, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State and destroyed 10.38 tonnes of cannabis sativa covering over 4.152 hectares.

The spokesman of the anti-drug said the security operatives, on their way back from the operation, also intercepted a truck marked FS548XN carrying a 40ft container loaded with logs of wood.

Babaemi stated that a search of the container led to the recovery of two bags of cannabis sativa weighing 20kgs, adding that six suspects in the truck were arrested.

He identified the suspects as Ahmed Yusuf, Olaniyi Babatunde, Adedeji Babatunde, Richard John, Osolale Olamilekan, and Abdulazeez Saied.

The NDLEA spokesperson added: “In the same vein, operatives on Sunday 1st October raided Obi camp in Owan West LGA, Edo State where 30 sacks of skunk weighing 300kgs and concealed in charcoal were evacuated from an old dilapidated mud house.

“Similarly, two cannabis farms measuring 1.179065 hectares at Igbanke forest in Orhiowon Local Government Area of the state were identified and destroyed on Friday 6th October while four suspects: Tersoo Zaria, 28; Ifeanyi Osai, 53; Moses David, 19, and Daniel Gabriel, 20, were arrested.”

While commending the anti-narcotics officers for their outstanding feats in the past week, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), equally applauded their counterparts in all the commands across the country for intensifying their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy lectures by creating a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities.

The Star