Brazilian National Nabbed At Abuja Airport In Record Heroin Bust
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says its operatives have arrested Ingrid Benevides, a 30-year-old Brazilian woman, with 30.09 kilograms of heroin. The drugs, said to be worth over N3 billion in street value, were allegedly concealed in factory-sealed coffee packs at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, spokesperson of the anti-drug agency, said the suspect was intercepted on Friday after arriving in Abuja on a Qatar Airways flight. Babafemi said Benevides, a private security officer in Brazil, was placed under intelligence-led surveillance before her arrest at the airport.
He said a search of her two checked-in bags uncovered 21 factory-sealed packs of Brazilian coffee containing white substances that later tested positive for heroin. “When the coffee bags were opened, rather than containing the beverage, what was found inside were white substances that later tested positive for heroin, weighing a total of 30.09 kilograms, making it the single largest heroin seizure at the Abuja airport,” the statement reads.
“During her preliminary interview, the suspect claimed she brought the white heroin consignment under the guise of coming to Nigeria for holidays.” OTHER ARRESTS Babafemi said NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, intercepted Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko on January 20 while they were en route to Istanbul, Turkey.
He said the suspects were found with 3,990 pills of tapentadol and tramadol concealed in food items packed in their luggage. “At the MMIA Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, 20th January intercepted two passengers: Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko who were heading to Istanbul, Turkey, aboard a Turkish Airlines flight with a total of 3,990 pills of tapentadol 250mg and tramadol 225mg concealed in food items packed in their bags,” he said.
The spokesperson said operatives of the agency’s marine command intercepted a wooden boat loaded with 44 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud cannabis weighing 1,848 kilograms at Jakande Beach, Lekki, Lagos, in the early hours of January 22.
“The shipment had barely arrived from Ghana when NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence stormed the location around 1 am, recovered the consignment and the boat,” he said. In Kaduna, Babafemi said two suspects, Aminu Baba, 20, and Abdulrasheed Abubakar, 28, were arrested over two bags containing 140 packets of explosives intercepted along the Kaduna–Zaria highway.
He said the explosives were seized from a commercial bus, while the suspects were arrested during follow-up operations in Kano and Kaduna. According to him, intelligence-led operations across several states also led to multiple arrests and the seizure of tramadol, skunk, pentazocine injections, cannabis seeds and codeine syrup.
He added that the seizures were recorded in Borno, Niger, Ekiti, Edo, Kano, Oyo, Benue, Lagos, Delta and Ondo states. The agency said the arrests form part of sustained efforts to dismantle drug trafficking networks, curb cross-border smuggling and block the supply of illicit drugs to criminal and terror groups across the country.
Babafemi said the NDLEA has intensified intelligence-driven operations targeting drug importation routes, distribution chains and local trafficking syndicates nationwide.
