The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 34-year-old South African woman, Qhina Beauty, with 36.65kg of cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and a 62-year-old Nigerian-American grandmother, Anetor Gloria Ubong, with 9.45kg of imported cannabis, popularly known as loud.
The agency also arrested a physically challenged woman with 6kg of cannabis in Delta State and recovered large consignments of illicit drugs in Kano, Lagos, Bauchi, Niger, Edo, Ondo, Taraba and Oyo states.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, saying Qhina was arrested on October 7 while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa via Doha. The cocaine was concealed in her two travel bags.
During interrogation, she allegedly revealed that she was recruited for R20,000 to deliver the drugs. Further investigations led to the arrest of a 46-year-old Lagos car dealer, Uchenna Victor Umunnakwe, on October 14 over his alleged role in the operation.
Ubong, a realtor based in Richmond, Texas, was arrested on October 21 after arriving from Houston.
She allegedly told investigators that her daughter and the daughter’s prospective brother-in-law had sent the box containing the cannabis for delivery to her daughter’s fiancé in Nigeria.
In Lagos, operatives also arrested Eletu Rasheedat, 41, recovering 5,820 diazepam pills, 780 tramadol tablets, 3.7kg of skunk and 230.25 litres of skuchies.
In Delta State, Peter Ugochukwu, 51, was arrested in Warri with thousands of tramadol capsules and tablets, codeine syrup, Rohypnol, diazepam and other controlled substances. A physically challenged woman, Helen Bakporo Samson, 46, was separately arrested with 6kg of skunk.
In Oyo State, Fajana Dada Oluwaseyi, 41, was arrested in Ibadan after allegedly escaping an earlier arrest linked to the seizure of 197.8kg of cannabis from his residence.
Other operations led to the seizure of 97.2kg of cannabis in Kano, over 141kg in separate operations in Taraba, 64,000 opioid pills in Niger and 379kg of cannabis in Bauchi.
In Ondo State, officers recovered 583kg of cannabis from an abandoned farm, while two cannabis farms with an estimated yield of over two tonnes were destroyed in Edo State. A woman was also arrested in Edo with 35kg of cannabis.
The agency continued its War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaign in schools across several states during the week.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain efforts against drug trafficking and substance abuse.
