The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 30-year-old Brazilian woman at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, with 30.09 kilograms of white heroin valued at over N3bn.
The agency said the illicit drug was concealed inside factory-sealed coffee packs brought into the country by the suspect.
In a statement on Sunday, the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the woman, who is a private security officer in Brazil, was apprehended on Friday, January 23, upon her arrival in Abuja on a Qatar Airways flight QR1431.
Babafemi said the arrest followed “processed intelligence,” adding that a search of the suspect’s two checked-in bags led to the discovery of 21 sealed packs of Brazilian coffee.
He explained that operatives became suspicious and opened the coffee packs, only to find white substances which later tested positive for heroin.
The NDLEA spokesperson said the consignment weighed 30.09kg, describing it as the single largest heroin seizure recorded at the Abuja airport.
He added that during a preliminary interview, the suspect claimed she brought the drug shipment under the guise of visiting Nigeria for a holiday.
Meanwhile, the agency also intercepted two passengers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, who were travelling to Istanbul, Turkey.
Babafemi said the suspects were arrested on Tuesday, January 20, while attempting to board a Turkish Airlines flight with 3,990 pills of tapentadol 250mg and tramadol 225mg hidden in food items packed in their luggage.
In another operation, NDLEA operatives attached to the Marine Command intercepted a wooden boat loaded with 44 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 1,848kg.
Babafemi said the drugs were seized in the early hours of Thursday, January 22, at Jakande Beach in Lekki, Lagos, shortly after the shipment arrived from Ghana.
He said officers, acting on credible intelligence, stormed the area around 1am and recovered both the drug consignment and the boat.
The NDLEA also said it arrested two suspects on Friday, January 23, in connection with the interception of two bags containing 140 packets of explosives allegedly being transported to Kano and Kaduna.
Babafemi said the bags were discovered on a commercial bus along the Kaduna–Zaria highway in Zaria, while the suspects were tracked and arrested in follow-up operations at Karota Park, Kano, and Mando Park, Kaduna.
He added that an intelligence-led raid at Kwangila in Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Thursday, January 22, led to the arrest of two suspected drug traffickers, with 120kg of skunk recovered from them.
Babafemi noted that NDLEA commands across the country also sustained the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse campaign with sensitisation programmes in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.
He listed some of the outreach activities to include enlightenment lectures delivered to students in Jalingo, Taraba State; Ede, Osun State; Owerri, Imo State; Otukpo, Benue State; and Dutsinma, Katsina State, among others.
