2nd March, 2025
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
In a high-stakes operation at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intercepted a shocking attempt to smuggle a massive consignment of cocaine to Istanbul, Turkey.
The suspect, a 42-year-old Angolan businessman, Mbala Dajou Abuba, had resorted to the most extreme method—ingestion—only to be caught in the agency’s tightening grip on drug traffickers.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday said Abuba, a native of Angola’s Zaire province, was poised to board Egypt Air flight MS 880 on Tuesday, 25th February 2025, when NDLEA officers flagged him at the screening point.
He said a body scan delivered the grim revelation—his stomach was loaded with illicit drugs.
He was immediately placed under close observation, and in seven agonising excretions, expelled a staggering 120 pellets of cocaine, weighing 1.829 kilogrammes.
Confronted with the evidence, he confessed that he had abandoned his legitimate township delivery business in Angola to chase the perilous profits of the drug underworld.
Meanwhile, in a separate bust, NDLEA operatives thwarted another desperate attempt—this time at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
Babafemi disclosed that an auto spare parts dealer, Okeke Ebuka Igwe, had devised a cunning ploy, concealing 1.10kg of cocaine inside vehicle propellers bound for Angola.
However, his plans crumbled on Monday, 24th February, when NDLEA officers, acting on credible intelligence, swooped in and arrested him.
Igwe, a trader operating at ASPANDA, Trade Fair Complex in Lagos, could only watch as his elaborate scheme collapsed.
Babafemi said the crackdown extended beyond the airports as on Thursday, 27th February, operatives patrolling the Ibadan-Gbongan Expressway in Osun State intercepted a consignment of 1.05kg of skunk ingeniously hidden inside a detergent soap and biscuit carton. The suspect, Sunday Ogbu, 45, was swiftly arrested.
In Zamfara State, Ayuba Mustapha, 30, fell into NDLEA’s net on Sunday, 23rd February, when he was caught with a staggering 24,700 pills of tramadol.
The war on drugs raged on in Borno State, where Mustapha Shettima, 50, was caught red-handed with 31kg of skunk, 1,000 pills of tramadol, and a cash exhibit of N720,000 along Bama Road, Maiduguri, on Wednesday, 26th February. That same day, in Kano, Adamu Idris, 40, was busted along Zaria Road with 140 blocks of cannabis, tipping the scales at a massive 73.5kg.
Commending the relentless efforts of NDLEA operatives across the nation, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) lauded their dedication, emphasising that both their aggressive enforcement operations and proactive drug demand reduction campaigns are yielding significant results.
