The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 30-year-old Brazilian woman, Ms. Ingrid Rosa Benevides, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for attempting to smuggle into Nigeria 30.09 kilograms of heroin concealed in factory-sealed coffee packs, valued at over N3 billion.
The suspect, a private security officer in Brazil, was apprehended on Friday, January 23, 2026, upon her arrival aboard a Qatar Airways flight QR1431, following processed intelligence. A search of her two checked-in bags revealed 21 factory-sealed packets of Brazilian coffee, which were later found to contain white heroin rather than the beverage. The seizure is the single largest heroin haul ever recorded at the Abuja airport.
During preliminary interrogation, Benevides claimed she brought the consignment under the guise of coming to Nigeria for a holiday.
In Lagos, operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, on Tuesday, January 20, intercepted two outbound passengers, Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko, en route to Istanbul, Turkey. A total of 3,990 pills of tapentadol 250mg and tramadol 225mg were recovered from their luggage, concealed inside food items.
Meanwhile, operatives of the Marine Command in the early hours of Thursday, January 22, intercepted a wooden boat at Jakande Beach, Lekki, Lagos, loaded with 44 jumbo bags of “Ghana Loud” cannabis weighing 1,848 kilograms. The consignment had just arrived from Ghana when officers, acting on credible intelligence, stormed the location around 1 a.m. and recovered the drugs and the boat.
In a separate operation, two suspects, Aminu Ali Baba, 20, and Abdulrasheed Abubakar, 28, were arrested in connection with the seizure of two bags containing 140 packets of explosives heading to Kano and Kaduna. The bags were intercepted in a commercial bus along the Kaduna–Zaria highway, while follow-up operations led to the arrest of Baba in Kano and Abubakar in Kaduna. An intelligence-led raid in Kwangila, Zaria LGA, also led to the arrest of Fatima Ibrahim, 42, and Adejimoh Ismaila, 44, with 120 kilograms of skunk recovered.
In Borno State, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, January 21, intercepted 179,590 pills of tramadol and diazepam concealed in sacks of charcoal and animal feed in a vehicle from Potiskum, Yobe State. A follow-up operation in Bulabulin, Maiduguri, led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, Rabiu Imam, 32.
In Kwara and Niger States, a female suspect, Mrs. Eze Cynthia Chioma, was arrested in Mokwa following the seizure of her consignment of 78,500 tramadol pills earlier intercepted at Bode Saadu in a truck from Lagos. Her husband, currently facing trial for a similar offence, was arrested last year.
In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives arrested a 72-year-old suspect, Afolalu Joseph, and Abu Bunmi, 45, in Ilawe-Ekiti, recovering 62 kilograms of skunk from them. In Edo State, a village head, Chief James Abamu, and Aboy Egah Abamu were taken into custody after soldiers of the Nigerian Army raided a camp in Ilushi, Esan South East LGA, recovering 681 kilograms of skunk and 181 kilograms of cannabis seeds.
Further arrests were recorded across Kano, Oyo, Benue, the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos, Delta and Ondo States, with seizures including pentazocine injections, skuchies, tramadol tablets, codeine syrup and large consignments of skunk running into several tonnes.
Across the country, NDLEA officers also sustained their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools and communities in Taraba, Osun, Imo, Benue and Katsina States, among others.
Commending the officers for their “dexterity and professionalism,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged all commands to sustain the current tempo in both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
The Agency said investigations and prosecutions of all suspects were ongoing.
