Sharon Adurokiya, Reporting
A 34-year-old Ugandan woman who travelled to Nigeria for a church crusade has been arrested at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, after anti-narcotics officers discovered 87 wraps of cocaine concealed in her private parts.
Ms Farida Nansubuga was intercepted on Tuesday 3 November 2026 at the screening point of Terminal 2 during a joint passenger screening exercise involving operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and aviation security personnel. She was due to board a Ugandan airline flight home.
A body search raised suspicions of a substance concealed around her pelvic region, and she was taken to a designated private search room for a secondary search. Officers recovered 87 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.150 kilogrammes, strapped around her pelvic region and held in place beneath two layers of underwear.
During a preliminary interview, the suspect said she had arrived in Nigeria on 29 October with members of her church for a prayer session at The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in the Ikotun Egbe area of Lagos. She claimed that after the prayer session her fellow delegates returned to Uganda while she stayed behind to collect the consignment on behalf of a friend, identified only as Joy, who resides in Uganda.
According to her account, Joy directed her to a contact in Nigeria who arranged a vehicle to bring her to a hotel on the morning of her scheduled departure. There, she said, the man handed her the drug and instructed her to hide it beneath her clothing to beat security screening at the airport. She claimed no definite fee had been agreed, but that she expected to be paid not less than US$1,000 on successful delivery.
In a separate interception at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives on Friday 6 November uncovered 750,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, weighing 526 kilogrammes with a street value of N900 million, in a consignment from India declared as Paracetamol Tablets 500mg. The consignment, made up of eleven cartons packed in two wooden structures, arrived at the import shed on Tuesday 3 November aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Ahmedabad. Suspicious of the declaration, officers placed the cargo under surveillance until a joint examination with the Nigeria Customs Service and other sister agencies on Friday. The opioid pills were found in ten of the eleven cartons, with only the last carton containing paracetamol tablets as cover.
Also at the import shed, operatives on Wednesday 4 November intercepted 32 parcels of Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 16.15 kilogrammes, concealed inside two wooden sofas in a consolidated cargo that arrived from Houston, Texas, aboard a Turkish Airlines flight. A freight agent, Ibrahim Abdulwaheed Adewale, who came forward to clear the consignment was taken into custody. In a follow-up operation on Friday 6 November, a 34-year-old caterer from Ibadan, Adeoye Sarafa Ojo, was arrested when he walked in to collect the package. He claimed he was sent by a friend, Taiwo Anuoluwapo Olusegun.
In another case, a syndicate importing chemicals used in the production of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis, from the United Kingdom has come under the NDLEA’s hammer following the interception of nine parcels of illicit substances hidden in two cartons of snacks tagged “Michael Tea Guy” in a consolidated cargo that arrived aboard an Air Peace flight from the UK on Friday 23 October. Two of the parcels contained 1.20 kilogrammes of cannabis, while forensic analysis of the other seven parcels confirmed them to be chemicals used in making synthetic cannabis.
A 51-year-old freight agent, Afolabi Abiodun Wale, who came to clear the consignment was arrested, while two more cartons for the same recipient later arrived from the UK aboard an Allied Air flight. A sting operation conducted between Monday 26 and Wednesday 28 October led to the arrest of Okwuite Benjamin Ojone, 51, when he took delivery of the four cartons. A search of the two additional cartons revealed three parcels concealed in two packs of detergent, weighing 3.30 kilogrammes, and eleven plastic bottles of mostly liquid substances weighing 16.25 kilogrammes, bringing the total seizure to 1.20kg of cannabis and 28.65kg of synthetic cannabis chemicals.
At courier companies in Lagos, operatives on Tuesday 3 November intercepted 46 blocks of cannabis weighing 22.2 kilogrammes packed in two cartons bound for the United Kingdom. Earlier, on Friday 30 October, they had intercepted 296 tablets of Swinol bound for Australia from Lagos, as well as three shipments of tramadol destined for the UK: 20 capsules from Benin City and 96 capsules from Sapele, Delta State, both concealed in vitamin C containers, and 600 tablets of Tramadol 225mg from Asaba hidden in female head wears.
In Lagos, operatives on Friday 6 November arrested a 32-year-old man, Abubakar Ali, at Marine Beach in Apapa, where a stash of drugs was recovered from a small store he built inside the sitting room of his apartment. Items recovered included 1.06kg of Tramadol 250mg, 1.27kg of Tramadol 225mg, 400g of pregabalin capsules, 355g of diazepam, 200ml of codeine and 6.07kg of cannabis.
In Ondo State, operatives on Friday 6 November raided Odofin Road, Uso, where they recovered 148 bags of cannabis weighing 1,818 kilogrammes. Earlier the same day, officers raided a cannabis farm in Board Forest, where they destroyed one hectare of cannabis plantation, recovered 242 kilogrammes of the drug and arrested a 36-year-old suspect, Itoro Linus Akpan.
In neighbouring Ekiti State, a 53-year-old man, Agbo Paul Peter, was arrested at Osin Forest, Osin Ekiti, on Thursday 5 November with 216 kilogrammes of cannabis and cannabis seeds.
In Edo State, operatives on Friday 6 November intercepted a Golf saloon car loaded with nineteen bags of cannabis weighing 201 kilogrammes along the Auchi–Ibillo road in Akoko Edo LGA, and arrested the driver, Abdulmumid Isah, 39, and a passenger, Danako Godwin, 25. In a related development, officers raided a notorious drug joint on Ihama Road, GRA, Benin City, where three suspects – Emmanuel Sunday, 25; Samuel Bala, 31; and Loveth Momodu, 20 – were arrested with quantities of Colorado, Loud and cannabis.
In Taraba State, operatives on stop-and-search duty at the NDLEA checkpoint in Lankaviri, Yorro LGA, arrested three suspects with a total of 283 blocks of compressed cannabis weighing 226.255 kilogrammes within two days. On Thursday 5 November, Ibrahim Abdullahi, 45, was arrested with 156 blocks weighing 149.275kg, while Kabiru Usman, 25, was nabbed the same day with 80 blocks weighing 40.07kg. On Friday 6 November, Babangida Babayo, 32, was arrested with 47 blocks weighing 36.91kg.
In Enugu State, a 57-year-old man, Celestine Uzochukwu Ejiakor, was arrested on Tuesday 3 November at a checkpoint in Eke Obinagu with 44 blocks of cannabis weighing 22.5 kilogrammes. In another interception at the Ugwuoba checkpoint, officers arrested Godwin Shaapera, 40, with 24,000 capsules of Tramadol weighing 13.4 kilogrammes and 697 grammes of ketamine.
A suspect, Edugua Othuke, 30, was arrested by operatives at Ozoro, Isoko North area of Delta State, with 10.54kg of skunk, 9.4kg of cannabis seeds and 4.3 grammes of methamphetamine on Saturday 31 October, while another suspect, Akpofure Tobore, 34, was nabbed with quantities of skunk, tramadol, rohypnol and laughing gas on Wednesday 4 November at Upper Agbarho, Ughelli area of the state.
Meanwhile, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities over the past week. These included WADA enlightenment lectures to students and staff of St Andrew Basic School, Oyo town, Oyo State; Government Technical College, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; Sa’ad College, Kano; and Inland Girls Secondary School, Onitsha, Anambra State, while the Zone 1 Command paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Emir of Bauchi, HRH Alhaji Rilwanu Sulaiman Adamu, at his palace.
Commending the officers, men and women of the MMIA, Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Delta, Taraba and Enugu Commands for the seizures and arrests, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), noted that the case of the Ugandan woman was a sad reminder that drug cartels will stop at nothing, including exploiting faith and religious travel, to recruit couriers for their deadly trade. He urged officers across all commands to sustain the tempo of their supply and demand reduction efforts.
