The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a woman, Ihensekhien Miracle Obehi, at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State, as she attempted to smuggle cocaine to Iran.
She had concealed the drugs in her private part, her stomach, and the false bottom of her handbag, the agency disclosed on Sunday.
According to NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, Obehi had disguised in a hijab in an effort to evade security scrutiny.
She was apprehended on Sunday, 3rd May 2025, at the departure hall of the Port Harcourt airport while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Iran via Doha.
Babafemi said, “Following credible intelligence, during a search, she was found to have inserted three wraps of cocaine in her private part, and two large parcels hidden in false compartments of her handbag while she swallowed 67 pellets of the Class A drug.”
“As a result, she was placed under excretion observation and after four excretions that lasted days, she expelled the 67 wraps of the substance in her stomach.”
Obehi later confessed that she had planned to swallow 70 pellets but could only manage 67 and decided to hide the remaining three in her private part.
The total weight of the drugs she carried amounted to 2.523 kilograms.
In a similar operation at Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA officers on Friday, 9th May, arrested a 22-year-old British national, Campell Kaizra Kofi Johannes Slifer, who arrived from Thailand through Doha on a Qatar Airways flight.
He was found with two suitcases containing 35 parcels of Loud, a potent cannabis strain, weighing 37.60kg.
Babafemi stated, “Campell, who claimed he had twice been convicted in the UK for drug trafficking and robbery, said he was recruited in London to travel to Thailand to pick the illicit consignment and bring same to Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, in Niger State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a fuel truck with registration number ABJ 693 XU and three other vehicles loaded with 246 bags of skunk, with a combined weight of 3,047 kilograms, along the Suleja-Kaduna road on Wednesday, 7th May.
Four suspects were arrested: Christopher Onyema (47), Benedict Etineruba Young (54), Chukwudi Ujue Jerry (30), and Mohammed Abdullahi Danasabe. Other vehicles recovered include a Honda Odyssey bus (YAB 667 CZ), a Gulf bus (GWA 125 TQ), and another Honda Odyssey (ABJ 230 CN).
Elsewhere in Lagos, at Oja Amukoko in the Ijora area, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Eze Chekube Emmanuel and Ike Samuel Chinyerem, on Thursday, 8th May, with a haul of 109,914 pills comprising tramadol, swinol, and nitrazepam.
In Kaduna State, 52.5kg of skunk was recovered on Tuesday, 6th May, from two suspects, Lukman Sabo Umar (23) and Tukur Ammadu (20), in a bus at Gwantu, Sanga Local Government Area.
In another arrest, NDLEA officers on patrol along the Bode Saadu-Jebba expressway in Kwara State arrested Rufai Nasiru on Monday, 5th May, with 45,400 pills of tramadol 225mg.
Further north, in Bauchi State, NDLEA intercepted a Toyota Tundra jeep marked RBC 111 DW along the Bauchi-Gombe road on Tuesday, 6th May.
The vehicle was carrying 526 blocks of skunk weighing 505kg. Two suspects, Isaac Onogure (37) and Ikechukwu Peter (44) were apprehended.
Also, in Kano, operatives raided a hideout in the Rijiyar Zaki area on Saturday, 10th May, recovering 31 kegs containing 775 litres of codeine syrup.
Two suspects, Hafizu Isa Uman (34) and Ismail Shehu (48), were arrested.
On Tuesday, 6th May, NDLEA officers in Lagos intercepted a consignment of 1.1kg of Loud hidden in a pillow at a courier company.
The consignment originated from Thailand.
In addition to enforcement operations, NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy continued with sensitization lectures held nationwide.
Institutions visited included the Federal Government College, Sokoto; Deeper Life International College, Nteje, Anambra; Martins Sanda Girls Science College, Paikoro, Niger State; and Restoration Power International School, Idua Eket, Akwa Ibom.
In Oyo State, WADA enlightenment was delivered to members of the League of Imams and Alfas at Iseyin Central Mosque, Iseyin.
Chairman and Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers and men of the agency’s DOGI, MMIA, PHIA, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Kwara, and Niger State Commands for their successful arrests and seizures.
He praised the collective efforts of NDLEA personnel nationwide for maintaining a balance between drug supply reduction and demand reduction efforts.
