NDLEA arrests S’African with cocaine, grandma with cannabis

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a 34-year-old South African woman, Qhina Beauty, with 36.65 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State.

Beauty was arrested at the departure hall of the MMIA on October 7, 2026, on her way to South Africa.

Operatives searched her two travelling bags and recovered 30 blocks of cocaine weighing 36.65kg, “laced with dried pepper, wrapped in cello tape and packed into seven separate parcels.”

The agency disclosed this in a statement released on Sunday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.

“Qhina was arrested at the departure hall of the Lagos airport on 7th October 2026 while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa via Doha. A search of her two travelling bags led to the recovery of 30 blocks of cocaine weighing 36.65kg, laced with dried pepper, wrapped in cello tape and packed into seven separate parcels.

During her interview, she told operatives she arrived in Nigeria on 30th September specifically to pick up the consignment. 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.

Investigations later led to the arrest, on 14th October, of the 46-year-old car dealer Uchenna Victor Umunnakwe, who was intercepted at Apple Junction, Ago Palace Way, Lagos, after days of surveillance at his Shasha residence. He admitted receiving Qhina 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,” the statement partly read.

Also arrested was a 62-year-old Nigerian-American grandmother, Anetor Ubong, with 9.45kg of loud which was imported from the United States.

Ubong was described as a Texas-based realtor, with Nigeriana nd US passports.

After her return from Houston, NDLEA operatives searched her two boxes and recovered 18 parcels of loud, a synthetic cannabis weighing 9.45kg, concealed with gift wrapping paper in a box.

The statement added, “In another interdiction operation at the Lagos airport, NDLEA officers on Wednesday, 21st October, arrested a 62-year-old grandma, Anetor Gloria Ubong, a realtor based in Richmond, Texas, who holds both Nigerian and US passports. She was arrested following her arrival on a United Airlines flight from Houston.

“A search of her two checked-in boxes uncovered 18 parcels of loud, a synthetic cannabis weighing 9.45kg, concealed with gift wrapping paper in a box. She claimed the box was delivered to her home in the US by her daughter and the daughter’s future brother-in-law, for onward delivery in Nigeria to her daughter’s fiancé, Jibola.”

In other nationwide operations, the anti-narcotics agency said its operatives, on October 23, 2026, arrested one Eletu Rasheedat, 41, in the Eti Osa part of Lagos, where “they recovered 5,820 pills of diazepam, 780 tablets of tramadol, 3.7kg skunk and 230.25 litres of skuchies.

“In Delta, a suspect Peter Ugochukwu, 51, was arrested in Warri with a huge cache of pharmaceutical opioids including 29,350 capsules of tramadol; 6,620 tablets of tramadol 200mg; 4,116 bottles of codeine syrup; 11,340 tablets of Rohypnol; 3,500 tablets of diazepam; 300 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 200 ampoules of diazepam injection, and quantities of tramadol 225mg, Molly and Cocodamol.

“He was transferred along with a white Hummer bus from the Nigeria Police Force, Delta State. In a separate arrest at Enhere Junction, Warri, a 46-year-old physically challenged woman, Helen Bakporo Samson, was arrested by NDLEA operatives on Monday, 19th October, with 6.0kg of skunk.

“A 41-year-old suspect, Fajana Dada Oluwaseyi, was arrested on Monday, 19th October in Adamasingba, Ibadan, following his initial escape from arrest when NDLEA officers seized 197.8kg of cannabis sativa from his house on 16th September,” among other operations.

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd.) urged the operatives to sustain the tempo of the war against drug trafficking and substance abuse.