Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have taken into custody Farida Nansubuga, a 34-year-old Ugandan woman, over allegations that she tried to smuggle 1.15 kilogrammes of cocaine from Nigeria to Uganda.
Nansubuga was apprehended at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, November 3, as she was preparing to board a flight to Uganda.
The NDLEA stated that 87 wraps of cocaine were found in her pelvic area, where they had been strapped beneath two layers of underwear.
In a statement on Sunday, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect arrived in Nigeria on October 29 along with members of her church for a prayer session at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in the Ikotun-Egbe area of Lagos State.
Babafemi said the other members of her delegation had returned to Uganda after the prayer session, but Nansubuga stayed behind in Nigeria to allegedly collect the cocaine on behalf of a friend named Joy, who lives in Uganda.
He said the suspect was intercepted during a joint passenger screening exercise carried out by NDLEA operatives and aviation security personnel at Terminal 2 of the airport.
“She came to Nigeria with members of her church for spiritual renewal at a prayer session in Lagos. But when it was time to go home, 34-year-old Ugandan Ms. Farida Nansubuga chose a different path.
“While the rest of her delegation flew back to Uganda, she stayed behind, not to pray some more, but to pick up a consignment of cocaine, which she hid in her private part in a bid to smuggle it into her country.
“Her plan, however, came crashing down at the MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, 3rd November 2026, when operatives of the NDLEA intercepted her at the screening point of Terminal 2 during a joint passenger screening exercise with aviation security personnel. She was due to board a Ugandan airline flight to her home country,” the statement partly read.
Babafemi said a preliminary investigation reportedly found that a contact in Nigeria arranged for a vehicle to take her to a hotel on the morning of her scheduled departure, where an unidentified man gave her the drugs.
The suspect allegedly informed investigators that she had been told to hide the cocaine under her clothing so she could get past airport security screening.
He said, “During the preliminary interview, the suspect said she arrived in Nigeria on 29th October 2026 with members of her church for a prayer session at The Synagogue Church of All Nations, Ikotun Egbe area of Lagos.
“She claimed that after the prayer session, the other members of her delegation returned to Uganda while she stayed back to collect the illicit consignment on behalf of a friend, simply identified as Joy, who resides in Uganda.”
She is said to have stated that while no fixed payment had been settled, she anticipated getting at least $1,000 once she successfully delivered the consignment in Uganda.
The Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), called the incident a reminder of how drug cartels take advantage of religious activities and travel to recruit couriers.
Marwa, while praising the officers who made the arrest, called on personnel in all of the agency’s commands to keep up efforts to combat drug trafficking and abuse.
“The case of the Ugandan woman is a sad reminder that drug cartels will stop at nothing, including exploiting faith and religious travel, to recruit couriers for their deadly trade. I urge officers across all commands to sustain the tempo of their supply and demand reduction efforts,” he said.
This arrest was one of several drug seizures and arrests that the agency recorded nationwide.
During another operation at Lagos airport, operatives seized 750,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250 mg, which weighed 526 kilograms and were valued at N900m.
The consignment, which came from India on an Ethiopian Airlines flight, was reportedly declared as paracetamol tablets.
“In another interception at the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives on Friday, 6th November, uncovered 750,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250 mg, weighing 526 kilograms with a street value of N900 million, in a consignment from India declared as Paracetamol Tablets 500 mg. The consignment, made up of eleven cartons packed in two wooden structures, arrived at the import shed of the airport on Tuesday 3rd November aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Ahmedabad, India,” he said.
He added that the agency also seized 32 parcels of Loud weighing 16.15 kilograms, hidden inside two wooden sofas in a cargo shipment from Houston, United States.
In the meantime, NDLEA operatives seized 600 tablets of Tramadol 225 mg hidden in female headwear in a shipment bound for the United Kingdom.
The agency also recovered 46 blocks of cannabis weighing 22.2 kilogrammes from two cartons being shipped to the UK.
Previously, the agency had intercepted a large consignment of illicit drugs ingeniously hidden in imported furniture, specifically sofas, and women’s headgear.
Footage shows officers carefully unpacking large cardboard crates that contained sofas. After cutting through the outer packaging along with the internal foam and padding, operatives recovered several sealed packages of suspected narcotics concealed within the furniture.
