THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 30-year-old Brazilian woman, Ingrid Benevides, with 30.09 kilograms of heroin.
Disclosing this in a statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the drugs, worth over ₦3 billion in street value, were concealed in factory-sealed coffee packs at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
He said the suspect was intercepted on Friday after arriving in Abuja on a Qatar Airways flight.
According to the anti-narcotics agency, Benevides, a private security officer in Brazil, was placed under intelligence-led surveillance before her arrest at the airport.
“When the coffee bags were opened, rather than containing the beverage, what was found inside were white substances that later tested positive for heroin, weighing a total of 30.09 kilograms, making it the single largest heroin seizure at the Abuja airport,” the statement reads.
“During her preliminary interview, the suspect claimed she brought the white heroin consignment under the guise of coming to Nigeria for holidays.”
He said a search of her two checked-in bags uncovered 21 factory-sealed packs of Brazilian coffee containing white substances that later tested positive for heroin.
NDLEA intercepts Brazilian lady with N3b heroin in coffee packs at Abuja airport
Meanwhile, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, NDLEA operatives intercepted Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko on January 20 while they were en route to Istanbul, Turkey.
He said the suspects were found with 3,990 pills of tapentadol and tramadol concealed in food items packed in their luggage.
“At the MMIA Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, 20th January intercepted two passengers: Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko who were heading to Istanbul, Turkey, aboard a Turkish Airlines flight with a total of 3,990 pills of tapentadol 250mg and tramadol 225mg concealed in food items packed in their bags,” he said.
Operatives of the NDLEA Marine Command intercepted a wooden boat loaded with 44 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud cannabis weighing 1,848 kilograms at Jakande Beach, Lekki, Lagos, in the early hours of January 22.
“The shipment had barely arrived from Ghana when NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence stormed the location around 1 am, recovered the consignment and the boat,” he said.
In Kaduna, Babafemi said two suspects, Aminu Baba, 20, and Abdulrasheed Abubakar, 28, were arrested over two bags containing 140 packets of explosives intercepted along the Kaduna–Zaria highway.
Babafemi said the explosives were seized from a commercial bus, while the suspects were arrested during follow-up operations in Kano and Kaduna.