Mr. Femi Babafemi, who is the Director of Media and Advocacy at the agency, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

He noted that the suspect was arrested by operatives of the agency at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA).

According to the statement, preliminary investigations reveal that Hassan who was intercepted at the E-Arrival hall of the MMIA at the weekend, upon arrival onboard Ethiopian airlines at 1:30pm Friday, has been plying the illicit trade through the middle east routes for some time.

“The suspect came into Nigeria through Addis-Ababa but he actually travelled to Addis-Ababa from Abuja,” the Commander of MMIA NDLEA Command, Ahmadu Garba, was quoted as saying in a statement.

He added, “Upon a thorough search, we discovered another ticket on him while our findings also show that he has been plying his criminal trade through some Middle East countries.”

In the same vein, narcotic officers attached to a courier company in Lagos were said to have intercepted 500grammes of unaccompanied cocaine going to the United Arab Emirates and concealed inside the walls of packed cartons containing clothes.

The operatives also intercepted in another courier firm one kilogramme of cannabis concealed in cream bottles going to UAE, while 500grammes of ketamine hidden in artefacts and going to the US was recovered from the same company in Lagos.

Another 480grammes of unaccompanied methamphetamine going to China was recovered from the same courier company.

Elsewhere, operatives of the Anambra State Command of the agency recovered 58.5 grammes of cocaine and 13.9 grammes of heroine concealed in the palace of a prominent traditional ruler in the state.

The NDLEA commander in the state, Muhammadu Idris, noted that investigations were ongoing to unravel how the illicit drugs were hidden in the palace.

He added that the palace security guards were helping the agency to trace the dealer behind the consignment.

In his reaction, the Chairman of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, commended the personnel involved in the operations for their vigilance and urged them not to relent in the fight against drug abuse in the country.