By Deborah Nnamdi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a woman, Ihensekhien Miracle Obehi, at the Port Harcourt International Airport for attempting to smuggle cocaine to Iran. The suspect, who disguised herself in a hijab to evade security, was intercepted on Sunday, May 3, 2025, while preparing to board a Qatar Airways flight to Iran via Doha.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, Obehi was caught with three wraps of cocaine hidden in her private parts, two parcels concealed in the false bottom of her handbag, and had also ingested 67 pellets of the illicit drug. The arrest followed credible intelligence and a thorough search conducted by NDLEA operatives at the airport.
“As a result, she was placed under excretion observation, and after four excretions that lasted days, she expelled the 67 wraps of the substance in her stomach.
“She claimed she was to swallow 70 pellets of cocaine, but after ingesting 67 pieces, she could no longer swallow the remaining three and decided to insert them into her private part.
“The total weight of the three consignments hidden in different parts of her body comes to 2.523 kilograms,” Babafemi added.
Similarly, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) reported that its operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on Friday intercepted a 22-year-old British national, Campell Kaizra Kofi Johannes Slifer. He had arrived from Thailand via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight, carrying two suitcases containing 35 parcels of “Loud”—a potent strain of cannabis—totaling 37.60kg.
According to the agency, Campell admitted to having previously been convicted twice in the UK for drug trafficking and robbery. He also confessed to being recruited in London to travel to Thailand and bring the illicit drugs into Nigeria.
In another operation at Oja Amukoko in the Ijora area of Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Eze Chekube Emmanuel and Ike Samuel Chinyerem, on Thursday, May 8, seizing 109,914 pills of tramadol, swivel, and nitrazepam from them.
In Kaduna State, 52.5kg of cannabis (skunk) was recovered from two individuals—Lukman Sabo Umar, 23, and Tukur Ammadu, 20—who were traveling in a bus in Gwantu, Sanga LGA, on Tuesday, May 6. Additionally, on Monday, May 5, NDLEA personnel patrolling the Bode Saadu-Jebba expressway in Kwara State apprehended Rufai Nasiru with 45,400 tramadol 225mg tablets.
In Bauchi State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a Toyota Tundra jeep with license plate RBC 111 DW along the Bauchi-Gombe road on Tuesday, May 6. The vehicle was found carrying 526 blocks of skunk, weighing 505kg. Two suspects, Isaac Onogure, 37, and Ikechukwu Peter, 44, were arrested at the scene.
On Saturday, May 10, 31 kegs containing 775 liters of codeine syrup were recovered during a raid on a hideout in the Rijiyar Zaki area of Kano. Two suspects, Hafizu Isa Uman, 34, and Ismail Shehu, 48, were taken into custody. Meanwhile, a 1.1kg consignment of Loud concealed in a pillow and shipped from Thailand was intercepted on Tuesday, May 6, by NDLEA officers at a courier company in Lagos.
Reacting to the series of arrests and seizures, NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the efforts of operatives in DOGI, MMIA, and PHIA, as well as those in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Kwara, and Niger State Commands.
Marwa also praised NDLEA officers nationwide for maintaining a balanced approach in their efforts to reduce both the supply and demand for illicit drugs.
