The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has announced the seizure of 36.65 kilograms of cocaine concealed in the luggage of a South African woman at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The suspect, identified as 34 year old Qhina Beauty, was arrested on October 7 while preparing to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa through Doha, Qatar. The operation, disclosed on Sunday, October 25, by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi, also led to the arrest of a Lagos businessman suspected of assisting the alleged trafficking operation. The agency said the interception formed part of intensified efforts to disrupt international drug trafficking networks operating through Nigerian airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Babafemi, NDLEA operatives discovered 30 blocks of cocaine weighing a combined 36.65 kilograms during a search of Beauty\u2019s two travelling bags. The substances had been wrapped in adhesive tape, arranged into seven separate parcels and concealed with dried pepper, apparently to disguise the contents. The consignment was intercepted at the airport\u2019s departure hall before the suspect could board her international flight. Investigators believe the quantity and packaging indicate an organised trafficking operation rather than an isolated incident. The agency has not publicly announced a verified street value for the seized cocaine, and investigations are continuing to establish the source, ownership and intended recipients of the consignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Seized narcotics displayed during an NDLEA operation. Investigators recovered 30 blocks of cocaine in the latest Lagos airport interception.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n During questioning, Beauty reportedly told investigators that she arrived in Nigeria on September 30 specifically to collect the cocaine shipment. She alleged that another South African woman recruited her and promised to pay 20,000 South African rand after the successful delivery of the drugs. She also identified two other individuals suspected of having connections to the operation, including one person based in the United States and a businessman operating in Lagos. These statements remain allegations obtained during the investigation and have not been established in court. NDLEA officials are examining the suspected connections to determine the extent of the trafficking arrangement and whether additional individuals participated in financing, transporting or coordinating the consignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further investigations led to the arrest of 46 year old Lagos car dealer Uchenna Victor Umunnakwe on October 14 at Apple Junction, Ago Palace Way, Lagos. The agency said officers had placed him under surveillance at his residence in the Shasha area before carrying out the arrest. According to Babafemi, Umunnakwe allegedly admitted receiving Beauty at the airport and arranging her accommodation at Santiago Hotel in Amuwo Odofin. He reportedly later moved her to Cynarisso Hotel near the airport before her scheduled departure. Investigators are examining whether his reported involvement extended beyond providing transportation and accommodation, while the suspect remains entitled to the presumption of innocence until any criminal allegations are determined by a competent court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, where NDLEA intercepted the cocaine consignment before its suspected export to South Africa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a separate airport operation, NDLEA operatives arrested a 62 year old Nigerian American woman, Anetor Gloria Ubong, on October 21 after she arrived in Lagos aboard a United Airlines flight from Houston, Texas. The agency identified Ubong as a realtor based in Richmond, Texas, who holds Nigerian and United States passports. A search of her checked luggage reportedly uncovered 18 parcels of high potency cannabis, commonly known as loud, weighing 9.45 kilograms. The drugs were allegedly concealed inside a box covered with gift wrapping paper. Ubong reportedly told investigators that her daughter and her daughter\u2019s prospective brother in law had delivered the package to her residence in the United States for onward delivery to a person in Nigeria identified as Jibola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lagos airport arrests were among several drug enforcement operations reported across Nigeria during the same period. On October 23, NDLEA officers arrested 41 year old Eletu Rasheedat in the Eti Osa area of Lagos and recovered 5,820 diazepam pills, 780 tramadol tablets, 3.7 kilograms of cannabis and 230.25 litres of a locally prepared alcoholic and drug mixture known as skuchies. In Delta State, officers arrested 51 year old Peter Ugochukwu in Warri and recovered large quantities of pharmaceutical opioids, including 29,350 tramadol capsules, 6,620 additional tramadol tablets, 4,116 bottles of codeine syrup and 11,340 Rohypnol tablets. The agency said the seizures demonstrated the continuing scale of illicit drug distribution across different parts of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NDLEA also announced significant seizures in several other states. In Kano, officers arrested a suspect in the Gerawa area on October 22 and recovered 159 blocks of cannabis weighing 97.2 kilograms. In Taraba, another operation on October 23 led to the seizure of 95 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 60.175 kilograms, while police transferred a separate suspect and 81.49 kilograms of cannabis to the agency. In Niger State, officers recovered 64,000 opioid pills along the Sabo Kainji road, while an operation in Bauchi resulted in the seizure of 379 kilograms of cannabis. The agency further reported the destruction of cannabis farms in Ondo and Edo states, including plantations with substantial estimated drug yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The latest cocaine interception follows another major NDLEA operation announced on August 18, 2026, when the agency disclosed the seizure of 184.5 kilograms of cocaine valued at approximately 39 billion naira in Lagos. That earlier consignment was reportedly intercepted through a courier logistics channel and linked to an alleged international trafficking network using Nigeria as a transit point for shipments destined for Europe and Asia. NDLEA Chairman Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa, retired, described the August operation as a major breakthrough against organised drug trafficking. The historical significance of that seizure provides context for the latest airport interception, which highlights the continued attempts by suspected traffickers to exploit international travel and commercial transportation networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The interceptions have renewed attention on the challenges of securing Nigeria\u2019s international airports and preventing the country from being used as a transit route for illegal narcotics. Trafficking syndicates frequently rely on couriers, commercial cargo and concealed packages to move illicit substances across international borders. Enforcement agencies must therefore combine passenger screening with intelligence gathering, financial investigations and cooperation with foreign authorities. However, arrests and drug seizures alone do not establish the full extent of trafficking networks, making follow up investigations essential to identifying organisers and financiers. NDLEA has also continued its War Against Drug Abuse campaign through public awareness programmes in schools, workplaces and communities, emphasising prevention alongside law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As of October 26, 2026, NDLEA has confirmed the seizure of 36.65 kilograms of cocaine and the arrest of Qhina Beauty and Uchenna Victor Umunnakwe in connection with the suspected trafficking operation. The agency has also reported the separate cannabis interception involving Anetor Gloria Ubong, while investigations into the individuals allegedly connected to the cocaine shipment remain ongoing. Marwa commended officers of the Lagos airport command and other participating units for their vigilance and urged personnel nationwide to sustain intelligence driven operations. No final court judgment has been reported against the suspects in the latest operation. The outcome of the investigations will be important in determining whether the arrests lead to the disruption of a wider international trafficking network and stronger protection of Nigeria\u2019s major transportation gateways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has announced the seizure of 36.65 kilograms of cocaine concealed in the luggage of a South African woman at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The suspect, identified as 34 year old Qhina Beauty, was arrested on October 7 while preparing to board a Qatar Airways flight to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":38421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[3699,776,4,5,18,3],"tags":[25959,25962,21237,4107,22953,20433,15109,25958,25961,21930,25964,77,25963,4108,25965,11883,22948,20733,19757,25960,25957,25956,25966],"class_list":["post-38420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-educational","category-featured","category-international","category-lifestyle","category-naija-news","tag-36-65kg-cocaine","tag-airport-drug-bust","tag-anti-drug-operations","tag-buba-marwa","tag-cocaine-seizure","tag-drug-smuggling","tag-drug-trafficking","tag-femi-babafemi","tag-international-drug-trafficking","tag-lagos-airport","tag-lagos-crime-news","tag-murtala-muhammed-international-airport","tag-narcotics-investigation","tag-ndlea","tag-ndlea-arrests","tag-nigeria-breaking-news","tag-nigeria-drug-enforcement","tag-nigeria-latest-news","tag-nigeria-security-news","tag-qhina-beauty","tag-south-african-woman-arrested","tag-uchenna-victor-umunnakwe","tag-war-against-drug-abuse"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/RpxsTx5UEpcMt2KGeilnwbo6GyTum4Lxe0tn9P_2-2ZYqnjGi189ErWsgt1LdwhyjQkib0pgwXqu_1sGLu9cJofLM_XUTF41uXRzpHp594j6yQ2I6Aemk5qmlRAlTK1IY8gMAlpoGCfKNo8W5LpODLVM_H5NYx31ENcZpHV6jVs.jpg?fit=696%2C520","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38422,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38420\/revisions\/38422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NDLEA Chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa has commended officers involved in recent anti narcotics operations across Nigeria.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
NDLEA continues its War Against Drug Abuse campaign alongside enforcement operations to discourage illicit drug use and trafficking.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n