Major drug busts at Kano, Lagos airports as NDLEA nabs Italy-based businesswoman, others

A significant attempt to smuggle 256 wraps of cocaine weighing 6 kilograms through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) has been foiled by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The arrest occurred on Sunday, December 15, 2024, when operatives stopped Olisaka Calistus, an import-export businessman, who was found to have concealed the cocaine in his body during a routine screening of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight arriving from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

This seizure marks the largest cocaine interception at MAKIA since the NDLEA’s Kano Command was established in 2006.

According to Femi Babafemi, Director of Media & Advocacy for the NDLEA, Calistus had been attempting to smuggle the drugs into the country when authorities discovered the hidden contraband.

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Meanwhile, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, a similar attempt was thwarted by NDLEA officers.

Olanrewaju Akorede, a former convict, was detained for allegedly attempting to export rohypnol to South Africa concealed within a cargo shipment containing gari, shoes, and men’s clothing. Akorede had previously been convicted in December 2023 for attempting to smuggle tramadol and rohypnol, but was released after paying a fine and subsequently repeated his offense.

Additionally, NDLEA officers arrested Italy-based businesswoman Cynthia Akaeen on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, at Lagos Airport while she was attempting to board a Royal Air Maroc flight to Italy.

Akaeen was allegedly caught with 9,190 tablets of tramadol, weighing 6 kilograms, which she had planned to deliver in exchange for a promised payment of 1,000 Euros.

In further operations, NDLEA agents raided a warehouse in Onitsha, Anambra State on December 17, recovering over 418,000 pills of tramadol, tapentadol, and 8,000 bottles of codeine-based syrup. The agency also uncovered 180,000 bottles of codeine syrup at the Tincan Island port in Lagos on December 18, following a joint examination with Customs, DSS, police, and other security agencies. Makata Emmanuel, the consignee of the shipment from Mundra, India, was arrested.

Other significant drug busts included the seizure of 293,000 tramadol capsules and firearms in Borno State on December 16, and 50 litres of a new psychoactive substance, “suck and die,” along with various other drugs in Maiduguri. In Oyo State, 33.5 kilograms of cannabis were seized, and in Enugu, a raid led to the recovery of 94 kilograms of cannabis.