Pair jailed 35 years each over 500.8 kg skunk moved with fake plates
The Federal High Court in Yola sentenced Shuaibu Nuhu Isa and Zidon Zurga to 35 years each for moving 500.8 kg of skunk in a Hilux and a Prado SUV with a fake presidency plate, after NDLEA and soldiers caught them on the Numan-Yola road in November 2024.
🇳🇬 Numan-Yola road, near Numan Bridge, Adamawa State · Nigeria
NDLEA operatives arrested Shuaibu Nuhu Isa, 55, known as Don, and Zidon
Zurga, 50, on 25 November 2024 along the Numan-Yola road with 500.800 kg of
skunk, a strain of cannabis, packed in 626 blocks.[1][2]
The drug was concealed in a pilot Toyota Hilux and a Prado SUV; the Hilux
wore Lagos plate NT 829 AAA while the Prado carried fake presidency plate
01B-266 FG.[1]
Justice Bala Usman of the Federal High Court in Yola convicted the pair on 7
February 2025 and sentenced each to 35 years on two counts, a combined 70
years, or a N25 million fine each, ordering interim forfeiture of both
vehicles.[1][2]The consignment ran from Ondo State toward Mubi, and the
interception was a joint effort with the military, praised on site by
Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.[2]NDLEA chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa said
the convictions and forfeitures would strengthen deterrence against drug
networks.[1]
Photos and video
The two convicts beside the stacked blocks of skunk with an NDLEA signboard, between the Hilux and Prado used in the smuggling attemptPhoto details
One account says both vehicles bore fake presidency plates while the more detailed account gives the Hilux a Lagos plate and only the Prado a fake presidency plate; this report follows the detailed account.
Whether either man paid the N25 million fine option instead of serving time was not reported.
No appeal was reported.
The same article reports separate cocaine convictions of two other men, different events left out here.
Justice Akintayo Aluko jailed businesswoman Jumoke Akinusi for 18 months, or a 500,000 naira fine, after she pleaded guilty to exporting 1.10 kilograms of cannabis to Cape Verde. The NDLEA said she sent the drug through Murtala Muhammed International Airport on 14 August 2026.
An estate agent, Salami Abideen Jide, pleaded guilty on 15 October 2026 at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, to procuring and importing 32.2 kilograms of cannabis sativa from Canada, and was and the judge sentenced him to six years in prison, with the option of a six million naira fine.
Charged 1Prison six years (reported as three years on each of two counts, running concurrently)Fine NGN 6,000,000
A Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced 60-year-old Chinese woman Ting Hong Kiong to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to importing 31 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa. The judge ordered the term to run from her arrest at Murtala Muhammed International Airport on 17 May 2026, and the court imposed no option of a fine.
On 17 March 2026 Justice M.N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court in Kano sentenced Jonathan Nuhu, 45, of Kanke in Plateau State, to 15 years for unlawful possession of cannabis. NDLEA had arrested him on 20 July 2023 near Wudil Bridge with 116 bags; he was already on bail from a 2021 Jigawa sentence for a similar offence.