Nigeria’s drug control agency has recorded major breakthroughs at the nation’s airports, with operatives intercepting large consignments of illicit drugs destined for international and domestic routes.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, a 30-year-old Brazilian national, Ingrid Rosa Benevides, was arrested after arriving on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha.
Acting on intelligence, NDLEA officers searched her luggage and uncovered 30.09 kilograms of heroin concealed inside factory-sealed packs of Brazilian coffee.
The suspect, in a statement by the NDLEA spokesman, Mr. Femi Babafemi, a private security officer in Brazil, allegedly claimed she was in Nigeria on holiday.
The seizure, valued at over three billion naira on the streets, he says, is the largest heroin interception ever recorded at the Abuja airport and underscores growing attempts by international drug syndicates to exploit air travel into the country.
Meanwhile, at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted two outbound passengers travelling to Istanbul, Turkey, on a Turkish Airlines flight.
A search of their bags revealed nearly four thousand pills of tapentadol and tramaking hidden inside food items, foiling yet another attempt to move controlled substances through Nigeria’s busiest aviation hub.
The agency says these arrests highlight intensified surveillance at Nigeria’s airports and a renewed resolve to shut down trafficking routes, as authorities continue to warn drug couriers that Nigerian gateways are no longer safe passages for illicit drugs.
Reporting By Nosa Aituamen