The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have thwarted an attempt by a businessman, Olisaka Chibuzo Calistus, to smuggle 256 wraps of cocaine weighing six kilograms into Nigeria through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.

The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, December 22, 2024.

Babafemi noted that the seizure, which is the single largest cocaine interception at the Kano airport since the creation of the MAKIA Command of NDLEA in 2006, was made during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 941 from Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, via Addis Ababa in Ethiopia on Sunday, December 15.

Babafemi said Olisaka who claimed 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.

He added that a 35-year-old suspect, Modu Kolera, was arrested at the Customs area of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, with 8.5kg 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 on Wednesday, December 18.

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The NDLEA spokesman disclosed that a 30-year-old suspect, Gafar Saminu, was also arrested on Wednesday with 33.5 kilograms of cannabis sativa at Ayete in Oyo State.

“In Lagos, a consignment of 32 kilograms’ ephedrine, a precursor chemical going to the South East was on Monday 16th December recovered at the Young Shall Grow Luxurious Vehicles Park, Maza-maza,” Babafemi stated.

He noted that the NDLEA continued its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities, among others in the past week.

Babafemi listed the sensitisation activities to include the WADA sensitisation lecture to students and staff of Wajah Girls Government Day Secondary School, Hong, Adamawa State; students and staff of Government Girls Tahfizul Quran Salihawa, Gwarzo in Kano State; students and staff of Riyadul Quran Islamiyya School, Bagudo in Kebbi State; among others.

The Star