NDLEA arrests South African with 36.65kg of cocaine in Lagos

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested, a 34-year-old South African woman, Qhina Beauty, with 36.65 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.

NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday said Beauty was arrested on October 7 at the airport’s departure hall while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa via Doha.

He said a search of her two travel bags led to the discovery of 30 blocks of cocaine concealed with dried pepper, wrapped in cellophane tape and packed into seven parcels.

According to the statement, Beauty told investigators that she arrived in Nigeria on September 30 specifically to collect the consignment and was promised R20,000 by another South African woman for delivering it.

Babafemi said Beauty identified two other members of the syndicate, one based in the United States, and the other a Lagos-based car dealer.

He said the agency subsequently arrested Uchenna Umunnakwe, a 46-year-old car dealer, on October 14 at Apple Junction, Ago Palace Way, Lagos following surveillance at his residence in Shasha.

According to the NDLEA, Umunnakwe admitted receiving Beauty at the airport, lodging her at Santiago Hotel in Amuwo-Odofin and later moving her to Cynarisso Hotel near the airport ahead of her departure.

In a separate operation, the agency arrested Anetor Gloria Ubong, a 62-year-old Nigerian-American realtor based in Richmond, Texas, with 9.45 kilogrammes of loud, a high-grade cannabis strain, at the Lagos airport on October 21.

Babafemi said Ubong, who holds Nigerian and US passports, was arrested upon arrival on a United Airlines flight from Houston.

He said officers found 18 parcels of loud concealed with gift-wrapping paper in one of her two checked-in boxes.

The statement said Ubong claimed her daughter and the daughter’s future brother-in-law delivered the box to her home in the US for onward delivery in Nigeria to her daughter’s fiancé, identified as Jibola.