Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted major consignments of illicit narcotics across international airport corridors and state commands, arresting a South African national, a US-based realtor, and multiple domestic distributors.
The nationwide operational updates were detailed in an official press statement released on Sunday by the Director of Media and Advocacy at NDLEA Headquarters, Femi Babafemi.
According to the agency, personnel stationed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted 34-year-old South African national Qhina Beauty on October 7 as she prepared to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa via Doha.
A search of her two checked-in travel bags uncovered 30 individual blocks of cocaine weighing 36.65 kilogrammes. The agency disclosed that the illicit shipment was wrapped in Sellotape, divided into seven parcels, and coated with dried pepper in an attempt to evade detection by sniffer dogs.
During preliminary interrogation, the suspect revealed that she arrived in Nigeria on September 30 to retrieve the narcotics, stating she was recruited by a South African handler with a promise of 20,000 Rand upon successful delivery. Follow-up operations led to the arrest of a Lagos-based car dealer, Charles Umunnakwe, who allegedly received the suspect, provided hotel accommodation, and managed her movement.
In a separate airport interdiction on October 21, NDLEA officers arrested 62-year-old Nigerian-American realtor Anetor Gloria Ubong upon her arrival from Houston aboard a United Airlines flight. Inspection of her luggage revealed 18 parcels of “Loud”—a high-potency cannabis strain—weighing 9.45 kilogrammes, concealed in gift-wrapping paper.
Ubong claimed the package was handed to her in the United States by her daughter and her daughter’s prospective brother-in-law for onward delivery to her daughter’s fiancé in Nigeria, identified as Jibola.
Concurrently, tactical units in Lagos raided a hideout in the Eti-Osa area on October 23, arresting 41-year-old Eletu Rasheedat. Operatives seized 5,820 diazepam pills, 780 tramadol tablets, 3.7 kilogrammes of skunk, and 230.25 litres of “skuchies”.
In Delta State, NDLEA officers apprehended 51-year-old Peter Ugochukwu in Warri, confiscating a massive stockpile of pharmaceutical opioids. Items recovered from the suspect included 29,350 tramadol capsules, 6,620 tramadol tablets, 4,116 bottles of codeine syrup, and 11,340 Rohypnol tablets.
Commending the officers for the multi-state seizures, NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (Retd), directed all airport commands and border posts to sustain intelligence-driven enforcement to dismantle international drug trafficking networks.
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