NDLEA nabs 30-year-old Brazilian Ingrid Benevides with 30.09kg of heroin concealed in coffee packs at Abuja airport
NDLEA Arrests Brazilian with 30kg Heroin Worth ₦3bn at Abuja Airport; Seizes 1.8 Tonnes Cannabis, Tramadol Pills & Explosives
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 30-year-old Brazilian private security officer, Ingrid Benevides, after seizing 30.09 kilograms of heroin—valued at over ₦3 billion in street value—concealed inside factory-sealed Brazilian coffee packs at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi disclosed in a statement on Sunday that the suspect arrived in Abuja on a Qatar Airways flight on Friday and was placed under intelligence-led surveillance before her arrest.
“When the coffee bags were opened, rather than containing the beverage, what was found inside were white substances that later tested positive for heroin, weighing a total of 30.09 kilograms, making it the single largest heroin seizure at the Abuja airport,” the statement reads.
A thorough search of her two checked-in bags uncovered 21 factory-sealed packs of Brazilian coffee stuffed with the illicit substance.
“During her preliminary interview, the suspect claimed she brought the white heroin consignment under the guise of coming to Nigeria for holidays,” Babafemi added.
In a separate operation at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives on January 20 intercepted two outbound passengers—Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko—en route to Istanbul, Turkey, aboard a Turkish Airlines flight.
The duo was found with 3,990 pills of tapentadol 250mg and tramadol 225mg cleverly concealed inside food items in their luggage.
Meanwhile, in the early hours of January 22, NDLEA Marine Command operatives stormed Jakande Beach, Lekki, Lagos, and intercepted a wooden boat arriving from Ghana loaded with 44 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud cannabis weighing 1,848 kilograms.
“The shipment had barely arrived from Ghana when NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence stormed the location around 1 am, recovered the consignment and the boat,” Babafemi stated.
In the North, two suspects—Aminu Baba, 20, and Abdulrasheed Abubakar, 28—were arrested in connection with two bags containing 140 packets of explosives intercepted along the Kaduna–Zaria highway.
The explosives were recovered from a commercial bus, while follow-up operations led to the arrests in Kano and Kaduna states.
The multi-pronged operations underscore NDLEA’s intensified efforts to disrupt drug trafficking networks and curb the inflow of narcotics and dangerous substances across Nigeria’s borders and highways.
