Monday, November 9, 2026 -The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 34-year-old Ugandan woman at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos after officers said they found 87 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.15 kilograms concealed beneath her clothing.
The agency identified the woman as Farida Nansubuga and said
she was intercepted at Terminal 2 on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, during a joint
screening exercise with aviation security personnel. She was due to board a
Uganda Airlines flight home.
The NDLEA said an initial search indicated that Nansubuga
had concealed a substance around her pelvic region. Officers took her to a
private room for a further search.
“This led to the recovery of eighty-seven (87) wraps of
cocaine with a gross weight of 1.150 kilograms, strapped around her pelvic
region and held in place beneath two layers of underwear,” the agency said.
According to the NDLEA, Nansubuga told investigators she
arrived in Nigeria on October 29 with members of her church to attend a prayer
session at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun-Egbe, Lagos. She said
the other members of the delegation returned to Uganda after the session, while
she stayed behind to collect a consignment for a friend in Uganda she
identified only as Joy.
Nansubuga said Joy put her in touch with a man in Nigeria
who arranged transport to a hotel on the morning of her departure. She told
investigators the man handed her the cocaine there and instructed her to hide
it beneath her clothing to evade airport screening. She said no fee had been
agreed but that she expected to receive at least $1,000 if she delivered the
package.
In a separate operation at the Lagos airport, the NDLEA said
it seized 750,000 tablets of tapentadol, an opioid, on Friday, November 6. The
250mg tablets weighed 526 kilograms and had an estimated street value of ₦900
million, according to the agency.
The shipment had been declared as 500mg paracetamol tablets
and arrived on November 3 aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Ahmedabad,
India. Officers placed the 11 cartons under surveillance before examining them
with the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies. Ten cartons contained
tapentadol, while the remaining carton contained paracetamol.
On November 4, officers at the airport’s import shed
intercepted 32 parcels of a cannabis strain known as Loud, weighing 16.15
kilograms. The NDLEA said the parcels were concealed inside two wooden sofas in
a consolidated shipment from Houston, Texas, that arrived aboard a Turkish
Airlines flight. Officers arrested freight agent Ibrahim Abdulwaheed Adewale
when he came to clear the cargo. On November 6, they arrested Adeoye Sarafa
Ojo, a 34-year-old caterer from Ibadan, when he came to collect it. Ojo said a
friend, Taiwo Anuoluwapo Olusegun, had sent him.
The agency also reported intercepting nine parcels concealed
in two cartons of snacks labelled “Michael Tea Guy” that arrived from the
United Kingdom on an Air Peace flight on October 23. Two parcels contained 1.20
kilograms of cannabis, while forensic testing identified the contents of the
other seven as chemicals used to make a synthetic form of cannabis known as
Colorado.
Officers arrested Afolabi Abiodun Wale, a 51-year-old
freight agent, when he came to clear the shipment. Two more cartons addressed
to the same recipient later arrived from the UK on an Allied Air flight. During
an operation between October 26 and 28, officers arrested Okwuite Benjamin
Ojone, 51, when he took delivery of all four cartons. A search of the
additional cartons uncovered three parcels weighing 3.30 kilograms inside
detergent packs and 11 plastic bottles containing mostly liquid substances weighing
16.25 kilograms. The agency put the total seizure at 1.20 kilograms of cannabis
and 28.65 kilograms of chemicals used to make synthetic cannabis.
At courier companies in Lagos, officers intercepted 46
blocks of cannabis weighing 22.2 kilograms in two UK-bound cartons on November
3. On October 30, they seized 296 Swinol tablets bound for Australia and three
UK-bound tramadol shipments. Twenty capsules from Benin City and 96 from Sapele
were hidden in vitamin C containers, while 600 tablets of 225mg tramadol from
Asaba were concealed in women’s headwear.
In the Marine Beach area of Apapa, Lagos, officers arrested
Abubakar Ali, 32, on November 6. The agency said it recovered 6.07 kilograms of
cannabis, 1.06 kilograms of 250mg tramadol, 1.27 kilograms of 225mg tramadol,
400 grams of pregabalin, 355 grams of diazepam and 200 millilitres of codeine
from a storage space inside his apartment.
In Ondo State, the NDLEA said officers recovered 148 bags of
cannabis weighing 1,818 kilograms on Odofin Road in Uso on November 6. In a
separate raid at Board Forest that day, officers destroyed one hectare of
cannabis plants, recovered 242 kilograms of the drug and arrested Itoro Linus
Akpan, 36. In neighbouring Ekiti State, officers arrested Agbo Paul Peter, 53,
at Osin Forest on November 5 with 216 kilograms of cannabis and cannabis seeds.
In Edo State, officers stopped a Volkswagen Golf carrying 19
bags of cannabis weighing 201 kilograms along the Auchi–Ibillo road on November
6. They arrested the driver, Abdulmumid Isah, 39, and a passenger, Danako
Godwin, 25. In a separate raid on Ihama Road in Benin City, officers arrested
Emmanuel Sunday, 25, Samuel Bala, 31, and Loveth Momodu, 20, and reported
recovering quantities of Colorado, Loud and cannabis.
In Taraba State, officers at the Lankaviri checkpoint in
Yorro Local Government Area seized 283 blocks of compressed cannabis weighing
226.255 kilograms over two days. The agency said it arrested Ibrahim Abdullahi,
45, with 156 blocks weighing 149.275 kilograms and Kabiru Usman, 25, with 80
blocks weighing 40.07 kilograms on November 5. Officers arrested Babangida
Babayo, 32, the following day with 47 blocks weighing 36.91 kilograms.
In Enugu State, officers arrested Celestine Uzochukwu
Ejiakor, 57, at the Eke Obinagu checkpoint on November 3 with 44 blocks of
cannabis weighing 22.5 kilograms. At the Ugwuoba checkpoint, they arrested
Godwin Shaapera, 40, with 24,000 tramadol capsules weighing 13.4 kilograms and
697 grams of ketamine.
In Delta State, the agency said officers arrested Edugua
Othuke, 30, in Ozoro on October 31 with 10.54 kilograms of skunk, 9.4 kilograms
of cannabis seeds and 4.3 grams of methamphetamine. Officers also arrested
Akpofure Tobore, 34, in Upper Agbarho, Ughelli, on November 4 and reported
recovering quantities of skunk, tramadol, Rohypnol and laughing gas.
The NDLEA said its commands also continued drug awareness
activities under its War Against Drug Abuse campaign. Officers held sessions at
schools in Oyo, Ebonyi, Kano and Anambra states, while the agency’s Zone 1
Command visited the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Sulaiman Adamu, at his
palace
NDLEA Chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa commended officers
involved in the arrests and seizures. He said Nansubuga’s case illustrated how
trafficking networks could exploit religious travel to recruit couriers and
urged officers to continue efforts to curb both drug supply and demand.
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