The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested two suspected drug traffickers at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport with illicit substances worth over N50 million.
The NDLEA Commander at the airport, Ambrose Umoru, made the disclosure while parading the suspects before journalists in Kano on Thursday.
Umoru said the suspects were arrested with the suspected narcotic drugs on Feb. 17 by operatives of the airport command during routine inward screening of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight number ET 941.
He said one of the suspects, a native of Ire in Indemili South Local Government Area of Anambra, was apprehended with 2.180 kilogrammes of ingested heroin.
The NDLEA commander said the quantity is the single largest drug ingestion seizure ever recorded in the country in recent times.
“A businessman and barber who is based in Kinshasha, Democratic Republic of Congo, the suspect travelled to Bujumbura, Burundi, where he ingested a total of 127 wraps of heroin,’’ Umoru said.
According to him, the suspect transited Addis Ababa to Kano and was to board a night luxury bus to Onitsha where he was expected to excrete the substance.
He said the suspect was, however, unlucky when operatives of the agency at the airport promptly arrested him on arrival.
Umoru also said the second suspect, a 32-year-old female from Ibuse in Oshimili Local Government Area of Delta, a stylist by profession, was arrested on the same flight with three kilogrammes of whitish powdery substance suspected to be cocaine.
“She had concealed the substance in a false bottom packing in a large brown travelling bag,’’ he said.
The NDLEA boss said the suspect had travelled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to convey the substance to Nigeria before she was arrested by the NDLEA operatives.
He said Nigerian youths had again been saved from the devastating effect the dangerous narcotics would have caused if it had been successfully smuggled into the country and distributed locally.