The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has 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 on October 7, 2026, while preparing to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa through Doha.
A search of her two travel bags uncovered 30 blocks of cocaine packaged in seven parcels. The drugs were reportedly mixed with dried pepper, wrapped in cellophane tape and concealed in the luggage.
The NDLEA disclosed the arrest in a statement issued on Sunday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to the agency, Beauty told investigators that she arrived in Nigeria on September 30 specifically to collect the consignment. She allegedly said another South African woman recruited her for the operation and promised to pay her R20,000 upon successful delivery.
She also reportedly identified two other people connected to the drug trafficking network, including an individual based in the United States and a Lagos-based car dealer.
Further investigations led to the arrest of the car dealer, 46-year-old Uchenna Victor Umunnakwe, on October 14. He was intercepted at Apple Junction, Ago Palace Way, Lagos, following surveillance at his residence in Shasha.
The agency said Umunnakwe admitted receiving Beauty at the airport and arranging accommodation for her at Santiago Hotel in Amuwo-Odofin before moving her to Cynarisso Hotel near the airport ahead of her planned departure.
In a separate operation at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives arrested a 62-year-old Nigerian-American woman, Anetor Gloria Ubong, over the alleged importation of 9.45kg of synthetic cannabis, popularly known as loud.
Ubong, a realtor based in Richmond, Texas, was arrested on October 21 after arriving from Houston aboard a United Airlines flight. She reportedly holds both Nigerian and American passports.
A search of her two checked-in boxes led to the discovery of 18 parcels of loud concealed in gift-wrapping paper inside one of the boxes.
The agency said the woman claimed that her daughter and her daughter’s future brother-in-law had delivered the package to her residence in the United States for onward delivery in Nigeria to her daughter’s fiancé, identified as Jibola.
Meanwhile, the agency reported several arrests and drug seizures during operations across the country.
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In Lagos, operatives arrested 41-year-old Eletu Rasheedat in the Eti Osa area on October 23. The operation resulted in the recovery of 5,820 diazepam pills, 780 tramadol tablets, 3.7kg of skunk and 230.25 litres of skuchies, a locally produced alcoholic mixture containing psychoactive substances.
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 items recovered from him included 29,350 tramadol capsules, 6,620 tablets of tramadol 200mg, 4,116 bottles of codeine syrup, 11,340 Rohypnol tablets, 3,500 diazepam tablets and 300 ampoules of pentazocine injection.
The agency also recovered 200 ampoules of diazepam injection, alongside quantities of tramadol 225mg, Molly and Cocodamol. Ugochukwu was transferred from the Nigeria Police Force in Delta State along with a white Hummer bus.
In another operation in Warri, a 46-year-old physically challenged woman, Helen Bakporo Samson, was arrested at Enhere Junction on October 19 with 6kg of skunk.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives arrested 41-year-old Fajana Dada Oluwaseyi in the Adamasingba area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on October 19.
The agency said the arrest followed his alleged escape during an earlier operation on September 16, when officers seized 197.8kg of cannabis from his residence.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd.), commended the operatives and urged them to maintain their efforts against drug trafficking and substance abuse across the country.