Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 30-year-old Brazilian national, Ms Ingrid Rosa Benevides, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for attempting to smuggle 30.09 kilograms of heroin into Nigeria, concealed in factory-sealed coffee packs.
According to the NDLEA, the seizure valued at over N3 billion in street price is the single largest heroin interception recorded at the Abuja airport to date.
In a statement issued on Sunday, 25 January 2026, the Agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect was arrested on Friday, 23 January, upon her arrival from Doha on a Qatar Airways flight, QR1431.
“Following processed intelligence, NDLEA operatives arrested the suspect and conducted a search on her two checked-in bags where 21 factory-sealed packets of Brazilian coffee were found,” Babafemi said.
He added that laboratory tests later confirmed the white substances hidden in the coffee packs to be heroin weighing 30.09 kilograms.
“During her preliminary interview, the suspect claimed she brought the heroin consignment under the guise of coming to Nigeria for holidays,” the NDLEA spokesman stated.
Ms Benevides reportedly works as a private security officer in Brazil.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, intercepted two passengers, Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko on Tuesday, 20 January, while they were boarding a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul.
Babafemi said the suspects were found with a total of 3,990 pills of tapentadol and tramadol concealed in food items packed inside their luggage.
Elsewhere, operatives of the NDLEA Marine Command intercepted a wooden boat loaded with 44 jumbo bags of “Ghana Loud,” a strain of cannabis weighing 1,848 kilograms, at Jakande Beach in Lekki, Lagos, in the early hours of Thursday, 22 January.
“The shipment had barely arrived from Ghana when our officers, acting on credible intelligence, stormed the location around 1: am and recovered the consignment and the boat,” Babafemi said.
In Kaduna and Kano states, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Aminu Ali Baba, 20, and Abdulrasheed Abubakar, 28, in connection with the interception of two bags containing 140 packets of explosives concealed in a commercial bus along the Kaduna–Zaria highway.
Additional intelligence-led operations led to the arrest of multiple suspects across Ekiti, Edo, Kano, Oyo, Benue, Niger, Kwara, Delta, Ondo, Lagos, and the Federal Capital Territory, with large quantities of cannabis, tramadol, pentazocine injections, codeine syrup, and other illicit substances recovered.
In Borno State, NDLEA operatives intercepted 179,590 pills of tramadol and diazepam concealed in sacks of charcoal and animal feeds in a vehicle coming from Potiskum, Yobe State.
“As part of efforts to disrupt the supply chain of illicit drugs to terror groups, follow-up operations led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment in Maiduguri,” Babafemi said.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised their professionalism and vigilance.
“I urge you and your colleagues across the country to maintain the current standard of professionalism in all drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction activities,” Marwa said.
He added that the Agency would continue its nationwide War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, communities, worship centres, and workplaces to curb drug abuse and trafficking across the country.
