The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has foiled a desperate drug trafficking attempt by one Ihensekhien Miracle Obehi, who disguised in a hijab to smuggle cocaine concealed in her body through the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State.
Obehi, who was intercepted on Sunday, May 3, 2025, while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Iran via Doha, had used multiple concealment methods to evade detection.
READ ALSO: NDLEA Ebonyi command seizes 55.947kg of illicit drugs, arrests 112 suspects
Acting on credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives stopped her at the departure hall, where a search revealed: Three wraps of cocaine hidden in her private part.
Two large parcels concealed in a false bottom of her handbag. 67 pellets of cocaine swallowed.
Placed under close excretion observation, she eventually expelled all 67 ingested pellets over four days.
Obehi confessed she was initially instructed to swallow 70 pellets, but after struggling with the last three, she inserted them vaginally. The total weight of the concealed drugs was 2.523kg.
In a similar operation on Friday, May 9, NDLEA officers at Lagos’ Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) arrested 22-year-old British national, Campell Kaizra Kofi Johannes Slifer, who arrived from Thailand via Doha.
His two suitcases contained 35 parcels of “Loud” cannabis, weighing 37.6kg. Slifer, who admitted to two prior convictions in the UK for drug trafficking and robbery, revealed he had been recruited in London to transport the drugs from Thailand to Nigeria.
READ ALSO: NDLEA intercepts N3.4bn worth of opioids, codeine syrup in nationwide crackdown
The NDLEA also recorded a major interception in Niger State on Wednesday, May 7, where a fuel tanker and three vehicles were stopped along the Suleja-Kaduna road.
The vehicles contained 246 bags of skunk, a potent cannabis strain, weighing a combined 3,047kg. Four suspects—Christopher Onyema (47), Benedict Etineruba Young (54), Chukwudi Ujue Jerry (30), and Mohammed Abdullahi Danasabe—were arrested.
Other notable seizures across the country include: Lagos (Oja Amukoko): 109,914 pills of tramadol, swinol, and nitrazepam recovered from Eze Chekube Emmanuel and Ike Samuel Chinyerem on May 8.
Kaduna (Sanga LGA): 52.5kg of skunk recovered from Lukman Sabo Umar (23) and Tukur Ammadu (20) on May 6.
Kwara (Bode Saadu-Jebba Expressway): 45,400 tramadol 225mg pills seized from Rufai Nasiru on May 5.
Bauchi (Bauchi-Gombe Road): 526 blocks of skunk weighing 505kg found in a Toyota Tundra jeep; suspects Isaac Onogure (37) and Ikechukwu Peter (44) arrested on May 6.
Kano (Rijiyar Zaki): 775 litres of codeine syrup recovered from Hafizu Isa Uman (34) and Ismail Shehu (48) during a raid on May 10.
Courier Interception (Lagos): 1.1kg of loud cannabis concealed in a pillow shipped from Thailand intercepted on May 6.
Meanwhile, the NDLEA’s War against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization campaign continued in various states.
Lectures and outreach sessions were held in schools and religious centers, including: Federal Government College, Sokoto; Deeper Life International College, Nteje (Anambra); Martins Sanda Girls Science College, Paikoro (Niger); Restoration Power International School, Idua Eket (Akwa Ibom); League of Imams and Alfas, Iseyin Central Mosque (Oyo State
NDLEA Chairman/CEO Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised officers across the commands—DOGI, MMIA, PHIA, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi, Kwara, and Niger—for their recent successes.
He commended their continued commitment to both supply reduction and demand reduction strategies in the fight against drug abuse and trafficking