…as NDLEA intercepts UK, Australia-bound illicit drugs concealed in female head wears
By AGATHA N UJU, Correspondent, Abuja
A 34-year-old Ugandan woman Ms. Farida Nansubuga, has been apprehended by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Nigeria, with a consignment of cocaine hidden in her private part.Nansubuga came to Nigeria with members of her church for spiritual renewal at a prayer session in Lagos.
She was arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday 3rd November 2026, attempting to pick up a consignment of cocaine, which she hid in her private part in a bid to smuggle it into her country.
NDLEA operatives intercepted her at the screening point of Terminal 2 during a joint passenger screening exercise with aviation security personnel. She was due to board a Ugandan airline flight to her home country.
A body search on her pointed to a substance concealed around her pelvic region, after which she was taken to a designated private search room for a secondary search. This led to the recovery of eighty-seven (87) wraps of cocaine with a gross weight of 1.150 kilograms, strapped around her pelvic region and held in place beneath two layers of underwear.
During preliminary interview, the suspect, said she arrived in Nigeria on 29th October 2026 with members of her church for a prayer session at The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Ikotun Egbe area of Lagos.
She claimed that after the prayer session, the other members of her delegation returned to Uganda while she stayed back to collect the illicit consignment on behalf of a friend, simply identified as Joy, who resides in Uganda.
According to her, Joy directed her to a contact in Nigeria who arranged a vehicle to bring her to a hotel on the morning of her scheduled departure.
It was there, she said, that the man handed her the drug and instructed her to hide it beneath her clothing to beat security screening at the airport.
She claimed no definite fee was agreed for the trip, but that she expected to be paid not less than US$1,000 on successful delivery.In another interception at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives on Friday 6th November 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, made up of eleven cartons packed in two wooden structures, arrived at the import shed of the airport on Tuesday 3rd November aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Ahmedabad, India.
