By Peter Omopo
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 30-year-old Brazilian national, Ms Ingrid Benevides, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, with 30.09 kilograms of heroin concealed in factory-sealed coffee packs valued at over ₦3 billion on the street.
The suspect, identified as a private security officer in Brazil, was intercepted on Friday, January 23, 2026, upon her arrival in Abuja aboard Qatar Airways flight QR1431, following intelligence-led surveillance.
In a statement issued on Sunday, NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said a search of Benevides’ two checked-in bags uncovered 21 factory-sealed packs of Brazilian coffee which, upon further examination, were found to contain white substances that tested positive for heroin.
Babafemi said the seizure, weighing 30.09 kilograms, is the single largest heroin haul recorded at the Abuja airport. He added that during preliminary interrogation, the suspect claimed she brought the consignment under the guise of visiting Nigeria for holidays.
In related operations nationwide, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, January 20, intercepted two passengers, Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko, en route to Istanbul, Turkey. The suspects were found with 3,990 pills of tapentadol and tramadol concealed in food items packed in their luggage.
Meanwhile, operatives of the agency’s Marine Command, acting on credible intelligence, intercepted a wooden boat at Jakande Beach, Lekki, Lagos, in the early hours of Thursday, January 22. The boat, which had just arrived from Ghana, was laden with 44 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud cannabis weighing 1,848 kilograms.
In another operation, NDLEA officers arrested two suspects, Aminu Ali Baba, 20, and Abdulrasheed Abubakar, 28, in connection with the interception of two bags containing 140 packets of explosives destined for Kano and Kaduna. The bags were seized from a commercial bus along the Kaduna–Zaria highway, while the suspects were apprehended in follow-up operations in Kano and Kaduna.
Further arrests and seizures were recorded across several states, including Kaduna, Borno, Niger, Ekiti, Edo, Kano, Oyo, Benue, Delta, Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory and Ondo, with large quantities of tramadol, skunk, cannabis seeds, pentazocine injections, codeine syrup and other illicit substances recovered from suspects.
Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended operatives of the agency across the various commands for their professionalism and operational effectiveness. He urged them to sustain the current momentum in both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts nationwide.
