Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have foiled a drug trafficking attempt by a woman attempting to smuggle cocaine to Iran through the Port Harcourt International Airport. The suspect, Ihensekhien Obehi, concealed the narcotics in her private parts, stomach, and handbag while disguising herself in a hijab.
According to NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, Obehi was intercepted on Sunday, 3 May 2025, during security checks as she prepared to board a Qatar Airways flight to Iran via Doha, following credible intelligence. A search revealed three wraps of cocaine concealed in her private parts, two parcels hidden in false compartments of her handbag, and 67 pellets of the drug swallowed.
Placed under observation, Obehi expelled the 67 wraps after four excretions over several days. She confessed that she had intended to ingest 70 pellets but resorted to concealing the remaining three internally when she could not swallow further. The total weight of the cocaine recovered from her body was 2.523 kilogrammes.
In related operations, NDLEA officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, intercepted 22-year-old British national Campell Slifer, arriving from Thailand with 35 parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 37.6 kilogrammes. Slifer admitted he had previously been convicted twice in the UK for drug trafficking and robbery and was recruited in London for the illicit assignment.
Elsewhere, in Niger State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a fuel truck and three vehicles loaded with 246 bags of cannabis (skunk) weighing 3,047 kilogrammes along the Suleja-Kaduna Road. Four suspects were arrested alongside the seized vehicles.
Additional arrests and seizures across the country included:
-
109,914 pills of tramadol, swinol, and nitrazepam in Lagos’ Ijora area;
-
52.5 kilogrammes of cannabis recovered from two suspects in Gwantu, Kaduna State;
-
45,400 tramadol pills seized from a suspect in Kwara State;
-
505 kilogrammes of cannabis intercepted in Bauchi State with two suspects apprehended;
-
775 litres of codeine syrup seized in Kano;
-
1.1 kilogrammes of Loud concealed in a pillow intercepted at a courier company in Lagos.
The NDLEA also sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy activities nationwide.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended officers in the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI), as well as the agency’s commands in Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Bauchi, Kwara, and Niger States for their commitment to drug supply reduction and demand reduction efforts.
