NDLEA arrests four Saudi Arabia-bound pilgrims with 200 pallets of ‘cocaine’
By Fatima Dayyab
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has arrested four pilgrims headed to Hajj in Saudi Arabia with substances suspected to be cocaine.
The suspects were Usman Kamorudeen, Olasunkanmi Owolabi, Fatai Yekini, and Ayinla Kemi.
In a statement on Thursday, Femi Babafemi, spokesperson for the NDLEA, said the suspects were caught in a hotel while ingesting wraps of cocaine ahead of their flight to the holy land on Wednesday.
“The four suspects were lodged in two rooms in the hotel where they had prepared 200 pellets of cocaine weighing 2.20 kilograms to swallow when NDLEA officers stormed their rooms,” Babafemi said.
"One hundred wraps of the Class A substance were recovered from each of the two rooms, bringing the total seizure to 200 wraps. Two suspects were to swallow 100 wraps each.”
The spokesperson said Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, commended the Lagos command of the agency for the arrest.
Babafemi quoted Marwa saying the agency would continue to track, trace and apprehend “criminal elements” who may want to hide under pilgrimage to dent the image of the country.
"The agency will work with our counterparts in Saudi Arabia to ensure that the designated recipients of seized illicit drug consignments in any part of Saudi Arabia are also traced and dealt with accordingly,” he said.
In October 2023, NDLEA operatives intercepted 1kg methamphetamine concealed in containers of body cream going to New Zealand, and another consignment of 2.5kg cocaine and phenacetin hidden in the walls of a carton heading to Saudi Arabia.
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