The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested a Ugandan woman at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, with 87 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.15 kg.
This information came from a statement by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi stated that the Ugandan woman travelled to Nigeria with her church group for a prayer session in Lagos.
“When it was time to go home, the 34-year-old Ugandan woman chose a different path.
“While the rest of her delegation flew back to Uganda, she stayed behind, not to pray some more, but to pick up a consignment of cocaine, which she hid in her private part in a bid to smuggle it into her country.
“Her plan, however, came crashing down at the MMIA, when the NDLEA operatives intercepted her at the screening point of Terminal II during a joint passenger screening exercise with aviation security personnel.
“She was due to board a Ugandan airline flight to her home country. A body search on her pointed to a substance concealed around her pelvic region, after which she was taken to a designated private search room for a secondary search.
“This led to the recovery of 87 wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.150kg, strapped around her pelvic region and held in place beneath two layers of underwear,” he said.
Babafemi added that during the preliminary interview, the suspect stated she arrived in Nigeria on Oct. 29 with her church group for a prayer session at The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Ikotun Egbe, Lagos.
According to him, she claimed that after the prayer session, the other members of her group returned to Uganda. At the same time, she remained to collect the illicit consignment on behalf of a friend identified as Joy, who resides in Uganda.
“She said that 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.
“It was there, she said, that 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 was agreed for the trip, but that she expected to be paid not less than 1,000 dollars on successful delivery,” he said.
In a separate operation at Lagos airport on Friday, NDLEA operatives uncovered 750,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, weighing 526 kg and valued at N900 million.
Babafemi stated that the drugs were concealed in a consignment from India, falsely declared as Paracetamol Tablets 500mg. He explained that the consignment, consisting of eleven cartons packed in two wooden structures, arrived at the airport import shed on Nov. 3 aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Ahmedabad, India.
“Suspicious of the declaration, NDLEA officers placed the cargo under surveillance until a joint examination with the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies on Friday.
“The opioid pills were found in ten of the eleven cartons, while only the last carton contained paracetamol tablets as cover,” he said.
Also at the airport import shed, NDLEA operatives intercepted 32 parcels of Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 16.15 kg, on Nov. 4.
Babafemi stated that the drugs were concealed inside two wooden sofas within a consolidated cargo shipment from Houston, Texas, United States, aboard a Turkish Airlines flight.
He added that police took into custody a freight agent who attempted to clear the consignment. In a follow-up operation on Friday, 6, police arrested a 34-year-old caterer from Ibadan, Oyo State, who walked in to collect the package. The suspect said a friend sent him.
