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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 34-year-old South African woman with 36.65kg of cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, and a 62-year-old Nigerian-American woman with 9.45kg of cannabis allegedly imported from the United States.
According to a statement issued on Sunday, by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the South African suspect, Qhina Beauty, was arrested on October 7 while preparing to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa via Doha.
A search of her two travel bags uncovered 30 blocks of cocaine weighing 36.65kg. The drugs were wrapped in cellophane tape, packed into seven parcels and concealed with dried pepper.
NDLEA traces cocaine shipment to Lagos car dealer
The agency said Beauty told investigators she arrived in Nigeria on September 30 specifically to collect the consignment.
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- “She said she was recruited by another South African lady, who promised her R20,000 on successful delivery. She claimed she was introduced to two other members of the syndicate: one based in the United States and the other a Lagos-based car dealer,” the agecy said.
Further investigations led to the arrest of 46-year-old car dealer Uchenna Victor Umunnakwe on October 14 at Apple Junction, Ago Palace Way, Lagos, following surveillance at his residence in Shasha.
According to the NDLEA, Umunnakwe admitted receiving Beauty at the airport, lodging her at Santiago Hotel in Amuwo-Odofin and later moving her to Cynarisso Hotel near the airport ahead of her departure.
Nigerian-American grandmother arrested with 9.45kg of cannabis
In a separate operation, NDLEA officers arrested Anetor Gloria Ubong, a 62-year-old realtor based in Richmond, Texas, after she arrived at the Lagos airport on a United Airlines flight from Houston on October 21.
The agency said a search of her two checked-in boxes revealed 18 parcels of a cannabis product known as loud, weighing 9.45kg and concealed with gift-wrapping paper inside a box.
Ubong, who holds Nigerian and United States passports, allegedly told investigators that her daughter and the daughter’s future brother-in-law had delivered the box to her home in the US for onward delivery in Nigeria to her daughter’s fiancé, identified as Jibola.
NDLEA seizes opioids, cannabis across several states
Beyond the airport arrests, the agency reported several drug seizures and arrests across the country.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested 41-year-old Eletu Rasheedat in Eti-Osa on October 23, recovering 5,820 diazepam pills, 780 tramadol tablets, 3.7kg of skunk and 230.25 litres of a locally produced alcoholic-drug mixture known as skuchies.
In Delta State, officers arrested 51-year-old Peter Ugochukwu in Warri with a large cache of pharmaceutical opioids and other substances. The seized items included 29,350 tramadol capsules, 6,620 tramadol 200mg tablets, 4,116 bottles of codeine syrup, 11,340 Rohypnol tablets, 3,500 diazepam tablets, 300 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 200 ampoules of diazepam injection, alongside quantities of tramadol 225mg, Molly and Cocodamol.
According to the agency, the suspect and a white Hummer bus were transferred from the Nigeria Police Force in Delta State.
In a separate operation at Enhere Junction, Warri, officers arrested 46-year-old Helen Bakporo Samson on October 19 with 6kg of skunk.
In Oyo State, NDLEA operatives arrested 41-year-old Fajana Dada Oluwaseyi in the Adamasingba area of Ibadan on October 19. The agency said he had earlier escaped arrest after officers seized 197.8kg of cannabis from his residence on September 16.
NDLEA’s wider anti-drug crackdown
The latest arrests form part of wider NDLEA efforts to disrupt drug trafficking networks, intercept large consignments of illicit substances and prosecute offenders across Nigeria.
In July 2026, Nairametrics reported that the NDLEA intercepted 1.63 million tramadol 250mg pills concealed in fabricated compartments of two trailers along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The agency linked the consignments to a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating along the Togo-Benin Republic-Nigeria route.
In August 2026, the agency destroyed 329,865.585kg of assorted illicit drugs and psychotropic substances valued at an estimated N301.06 billion in Lagos. The exercise followed a Federal High Court order and covered drugs linked to concluded cases and abandoned seizures.
