A woman, Ihensekhien Obehi, has been arrested for attempting to smuggle cocaine to Iran by concealing it in her private parts, stomach, and handbag.
Obehi was apprehended by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Port Harcourt International Airport on Sunday, May 4.
She was reportedly dressed in a hijab and was about to board a Qatar Airways flight to Iran via Doha when she was caught.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.
According to Babafemi: “During her search, she was found to have inserted three wraps of cocaine into her private part, with two large parcels hidden in false compartments of her handbag, while she had also swallowed 67 pellets of the Class A drug.
“As a result, she was placed under excretion observation. After four excretions over several days, she expelled all 67 wraps.
She claimed she was meant to swallow 70 pellets of cocaine but, after ingesting 67, could no longer continue and decided to insert the remaining three into her private part.
The total weight of the three consignments hidden in different parts of her body is 2.523 kilograms.”
In a related case, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos arrested a 22-year-old British national, Campbell Slifer, on Friday, 9th May. He was found with two suitcases containing 35 parcels of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing a total of 37.6kg.
Babafemi said Slifer, who had previously been convicted in the UK for drug trafficking and robbery, confessed to being recruited in London to collect the drugs in Thailand and deliver them to Nigeria.
Also in Niger State, NDLEA officers intercepted a fuel tanker and three other vehicles transporting 246 bags of skunk—a type of cannabis—weighing 3,047kg along the Suleja–Kaduna Road.
The suspects arrested in connection with the seizure include: Christopher Onyema (47); Benedict Etineruba Young (54); Chukwudi Ujue Jerry (30) and Mohammed Abdullahi Danasabe.
Babafemi added: “Apart from the fuel tanker, three other vehicles recovered from the suspects include a Honda Odyssey bus marked YAB 667 CZ; a Gulf bus with registration number GWA 125 TQ; and another Honda Odyssey bus marked ABJ 230 CN.”
Meanwhile, in Bauchi State, officers on patrol along the Bauchi–Gombe Road on Tuesday, 6th May, intercepted a Toyota Tundra jeep with registration RBC 111 DW carrying 526 blocks of skunk weighing 505kg. Two suspects, Isaac Onogure (37) and Ikechukwu Peter (44), were arrested.
In a separate operation in Kano on Saturday, 10th May, NDLEA operatives raided a hideout in the Rijiyar Zaki area and recovered 31 kegs containing 775 litres of codeine syrup. Two suspects, Hafizu Isa Uman (34) and Ismail Shehu (48), were taken into custody.
