Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said on Sunday that its operatives arrested a 34-year-old Ugandan woman, Farida Nansubuga, at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos, with 87 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.150 kilograms strapped around her pelvic region beneath two layers of underwear, and in a separate operation seized 750,000 tablets of the opioid Tapentadol worth N900 million — yaani 90 crore naira — in a shipment flown in from India. The details were given in a Sunday statement by the agency's Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, reported by BusinessDay, ThisDay and The Sun.
Babafemi said Nansubuga was intercepted on Tuesday, November 3, at the screening point of Terminal 2 during a joint passenger-screening exercise with aviation security personnel, as she was about to board a Uganda Airlines flight to her home country. A body search pointed to a substance concealed around her pelvic region, and a secondary search in a designated private room recovered the 87 wraps, the agency said.
Source: ThisDay, Nov 8 2026 — Ugandan Woman Arrested for Cocaine Trafficking After Lagos Church Crusade
Came for a prayer session, stayed for a consignment — the agency's account
In a preliminary interview, the agency said, Nansubuga said she 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. While the rest of her delegation flew back to Uganda, she stayed behind to collect the consignment on behalf of a friend identified only as Joy, who lives in Uganda, she claimed. Joy directed her to a contact in Nigeria who arranged a vehicle to take her to a hotel on the morning of her scheduled departure, where the man handed her the drug and told her to hide it beneath her clothing to beat airport screening. She said no definite fee had been agreed, but she expected to be paid not less than US$1,000 on successful delivery, according to the statement.
750,000 opioid tablets hidden in a paracetamol shipment from Ahmedabad
In another interception at the same airport, NDLEA operatives on Friday, November 6, uncovered 750,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, weighing 526 kilograms with a street value of N900 million, in a consignment from India declared as Paracetamol Tablets 500mg. The consignment — eleven cartons packed in two wooden structures — had arrived at the airport's import shed on Tuesday, November 3, aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Ahmedabad, India. Operatives placed the cargo under surveillance until a joint examination on Friday with officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies; the opioid pills were found in ten of the eleven cartons, while only the last carton contained paracetamol as cover, the agency said.
Houston sofas, a UK chemicals syndicate and courier parcels to the UK and Australia
The agency said it also intercepted 32 parcels of Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 16.15 kilograms, concealed inside two wooden sofas in consolidated cargo that arrived from Houston, Texas, in the United States aboard a Turkish Airlines flight. A freight agent, Ibrahim Abdulwaheed Adewale, who came forward to clear the consignment was taken into custody, and in a follow-up operation on Friday a 34-year-old caterer from Ibadan, Adeoye Sarafa Ojo, who came to collect the package was arrested; Adeoye claimed he was sent by a friend, Taiwo Anuoluwapo Olusegun.
Source: ThisDay, Nov 8 2026 — Ugandan Woman Arrested for Cocaine Trafficking After Lagos Church Crusade
A syndicate importing chemicals used to produce Colorado, a synthetic cannabis, from the United Kingdom was also uncovered, the agency said, after nine parcels hidden in two cartons of snacks tagged 'Michael Tea Guy' arrived on an Air Peace flight from the UK on October 23 — two parcels containing 1.20 kilograms of cannabis and seven confirmed by forensic analysis to be synthetic-cannabis chemicals. A 51-year-old freight agent, Afolabi Abiodun Wale, was arrested, and a sting operation between October 26 and 28 arrested Okwuite Benjamin Ojone, 51, when he took delivery of four cartons; in all, the agency put the seizure at 1.20kg of cannabis and 28.65kg of synthetic cannabis chemicals. At Lagos courier companies, operatives intercepted 46 blocks of cannabis weighing 22.2 kilograms in two cartons bound for the United Kingdom, 296 tablets of Swinol bound for Australia, and three tramadol shipments bound for the UK — 20 capsules from Benin City and 96 from Sapele, both concealed in vitamin C containers, and 600 tablets of Tramadol 225mg from Asaba hidden in female headwear.
The Sunday statement also listed raids and seizures across Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Delta, Taraba, Enugu and Lagos states, including 148 bags of cannabis weighing 1,818 kilograms recovered on Odofin Road, Uso, in Ondo State, and a one-hectare cannabis farm destroyed in Board Forest. NDLEA Chairman Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retired) commended the officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo, Delta, Taraba and Enugu commands, and described the Ugandan woman's case, as reported by The Sun, as a sad reminder that drug cartels would stop at nothing — Nigerian outlets reported the chairman saying traffickers exploit religious travel and gatherings to recruit couriers. All of the accounts in this story rest on the NDLEA's own Sunday statement; the suspects' claims are the agency's account of their preliminary interviews and have not been tested in court.