Operatives of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a 42-year-old Indian Woman, Ms. Neetu Neetu, at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano, with 72 parcels of heroin factory sealed in wafer wraps and packaged as chocolates.
Gatekeepers News reports that Spokesman of the agency, Femi Babafemi revealed this in a statement on Sunday.
According to Babafemi; the class A drug consignment, weighing a total of 11 kilograms, was recovered from Neetu’s luggage following a thorough search.
The arrest was based on credible intelligence during an inward clearance of Qatar Airways flight QR1431 from Bangkok, Thailand, via Vietnam and Doha on Friday, March 14, 2025.
Babafemi noted that Neetu’s arrest highlights an increasing trend where drug trafficking organizations hire foreign nationals, particularly white women, to smuggle illicit drugs into Nigeria.
Babafemi noted that hiring foreigners by cartels to smuggle Illicit drugs is a bid that vigilant NDLEA operatives have consistently frustrated with the aid of modern technological tools and proactive intelligence, as laid out by Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd).
In a separate operation in Kano, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, March 20th, arrested a 45-year-old suspect, Michael Ogundele, with a 50-litre steel gas cylinder at Gadar Tamburawa, along Zaria- Kano road.
Based on credible intelligence, welding tools were later used to cut the giant cylinder, after which 50,000 pills of tramadol 225mg concealed in it were extracted.
Sunday Ogar, 40, was also nabbed at the Gunduwawa area of Kano on Wednesday, March 19th, with a 27kg skunk, a strain of cannabis.
A female suspect, Khadijah Abdullahi, 40, was arrested with 424 bottles of codeine-based syrup at the Lungun Bulala Yalwa area of the state on Tuesday, March 18th.
In Lagos, Olumuyiwa Kolawole and Samod Adisa were nabbed with 67.5kg skunk in Mushin, just as 100.8kg of the same psychoactive substance was recovered from the store of two fleeing suspects in the Anifowoshe area.
Isah Idris was arrested in Apapa with a 4.5kg skunk, 600 grams of tramadol 225mg, and 30 liters of codeine syrup on Tuesday, March 18th.
Another suspect, Yahaya Mohamed, was arrested the same day in the Ikotun area of the state with different quantities of cocaine, heroine, and methamphetamine.
As part of its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative, NDLEA intensified its social advocacy campaigns across the country last week. Sensitization lectures were conducted in various schools, including Chrisland School in Lagos, Hakimi Secondary School in Niger State, Marist Comprehensive College in Anambra, Ikole City College in Ekiti, Government Day Secondary School in Sokoto, and Government Day Secondary School in Adamawa.
Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the officers and men of MAKIA, Lagos, and Kano Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures.
He expressed satisfaction with the agency’s balance in drug supply and demand reduction efforts and urged them not to relent.
