NDLEA nabs South African woman with 5.75kg heroin at Abuja Airport, arrests Lagos okada rider over meth shipment

By Benedicta Aboh

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested a 38-year-old South African woman at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 5.75 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria, using her three-year-old son as cover to evade security checks.

NDLEA's Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi, disclosed on Sunday that the suspect was intercepted on July 6 during the clearance of passengers arriving aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1433 from Doha.

According to Babafemi, operatives discovered 14 large blocks of heroin concealed in two pieces of luggage linked to the suspect. He said she initially denied travelling with any checked baggage but changed her story after officers matched the luggage tags with the claim tags attached to her passport.

"She later admitted ownership of the bags, claiming she forgot she had checked them in. She also told investigators she travelled from Cambodia through Doha to Abuja," Babafemi said.

Preliminary intelligence, according to the agency, revealed that the suspect is allegedly part of a transnational drug trafficking syndicate operating between Cambodia and South Africa alongside her husband or partner.

In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, arrested a 48-year-old commercial motorcycle rider who arrived from Madagascar via Addis Ababa on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

Babafemi said a search of the suspect's backpack uncovered 87 wraps of methamphetamine hidden inside clothing. During interrogation, the suspect reportedly confessed that he had worked as an Okada rider in the Oke-Afa area of Lagos for 15 years before a friend based in Uganda recruited him into drug trafficking.

The agency said the suspect admitted swallowing methamphetamine pellets in Uganda before travelling to Madagascar, where he was denied entry by immigration authorities.

His sponsor subsequently rerouted him to Lagos, where NDLEA officers arrested him. After being placed under excretion observation for three days, he expelled 13 additional pellets, bringing the total seizure to 100 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.715 kilograms.