National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 34-year-old Ugandan woman, Farida Nansubuga, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 1.15 kilogrammes of cocaine from Nigeria to Uganda.
Gatekeepers News reports that the suspect was arrested on Tuesday, November 3, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while preparing to board a flight to her home country.
According to TheCable, the cocaine was concealed beneath two layers of underwear and strapped around her pelvic region.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect was intercepted during a joint passenger screening exercise involving agency operatives and aviation security personnel at Terminal 2 of the airport.
A subsequent search reportedly led to the recovery of 87 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.15 kilogrammes.
Babafemi said preliminary investigations revealed that Nansubuga arrived in Nigeria on October 29 with members of her church for a prayer session at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), in the Ikotun-Egbe area of Lagos.
He explained that while other members of the delegation returned to Uganda after the religious gathering, the suspect remained in Nigeria to collect the drug consignment on behalf of a friend identified as Joy, who resides in Uganda.
According to the agency, the suspect told investigators that her contact in Nigeria arranged transportation to a hotel on the morning of her departure, where an unidentified man handed her the cocaine and instructed her to conceal it beneath her clothing.
She reportedly said she expected to receive at least 1,000 dollars after successfully delivering the consignment to Uganda.
Reacting to the arrest, NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), described the incident as an indication of how drug trafficking networks exploit religious gatherings and international travel to recruit couriers.
Marwa urged officers across the agency’s commands to sustain efforts to disrupt drug trafficking networks and reduce the supply and demand for illicit substances.
The arrest was among several drug-related operations reported by the agency across the country.
In a separate operation at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives intercepted 750,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, weighing 526 kilogrammes and valued at 900 million naira.
The consignment, which arrived from Ahmedabad, India, aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight on November 3, was reportedly declared as Paracetamol tablets.
The agency also intercepted 32 parcels of Loud, a strain of cannabis weighing 16.15 kilogrammes, concealed inside two wooden sofas in a cargo shipment from Houston, United States.
