Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 34-year-old South African woman, Qhina Beauty, after discovering 36.65 kilogrammes of cocaine in her luggage at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos State.
Beauty was apprehended at the airport’s departure hall on October 7, 2026, while preparing to travel to South Africa.
A search of her two travelling bags uncovered 30 blocks of cocaine weighing 36.65kg, “laced with dried pepper, wrapped in cello tape and packed into seven separate parcels.”
The NDLEA disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to the statement, Beauty was attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa through Doha when she was arrested.
During interrogation, she reportedly told investigators that she arrived in Nigeria on September 30 specifically to collect the drug consignment. She claimed another South African woman recruited her and promised to pay her R20,000 upon successful delivery.
She also reportedly identified two other members of the drug trafficking network, one based in the United States and the other a car dealer in Lagos.
Further investigations led to the arrest of a 46-year-old car dealer, Uchenna Victor Umunnakwe, on October 14. He was intercepted at Apple Junction, Ago Palace Way, Lagos, following days of surveillance at his residence in Shasha.
The agency said Umunnakwe admitted receiving Beauty at the airport, arranging accommodation for her at Santiago Hotel in Amuwo-Odofin and subsequently moving her to Cynarisso Hotel near the airport ahead of her departure.
In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives arrested a 62-year-old Nigerian-American grandmother, Anetor Gloria Ubong, over the discovery of 9.45kg of a synthetic cannabis strain known as loud in her luggage.
Ubong, a realtor based in Richmond, Texas, who holds Nigerian and American passports, was arrested on Wednesday, October 21, following her arrival from Houston aboard a United Airlines flight.
A search of her two checked-in boxes led to the discovery of 18 parcels of loud weighing 9.45kg, concealed in a box with gift-wrapping paper.
According to the NDLEA, Ubong claimed her daughter and the daughter’s future brother-in-law had delivered the box to her home in the United States for onward delivery in Nigeria to her daughter’s fiancé, identified as Jibola.
The agency also reported several drug-related arrests and seizures across the country.
In Lagos, operatives arrested 41-year-old Eletu Rasheedat in the Eti Osa area on October 23, 2026. The operation led to the recovery of “5,820 pills of diazepam, 780 tablets of tramadol, 3.7kg skunk and 230.25 litres of skuchies.”
In Delta State, a 51-year-old suspect, Peter Ugochukwu, was arrested in Warri with a large quantity of pharmaceutical opioids and other controlled substances.
The seized items included 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 and 200 ampoules of diazepam injection. Quantities of tramadol 225mg, Molly and Cocodamol were also recovered.
The NDLEA said Ugochukwu was handed over to the agency alongside a white Hummer bus by the Nigeria Police Force in Delta State.
In another operation at Enhere Junction, Warri, operatives arrested 46-year-old Helen Bakporo Samson, a physically challenged woman, on Monday, October 19, with 6.0kg of skunk.
Meanwhile, in Ibadan, Oyo State, a 41-year-old suspect, Fajana Dada Oluwaseyi, was arrested in Adamasingba on October 19. His arrest followed an earlier escape from operatives who had seized 197.8kg of cannabis sativa from his residence on September 16.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd.), urged officers of the agency to sustain their efforts in the fight against drug trafficking and substance abuse.
Credit: NDLEA
