The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a 38-year-old businesswoman following the discovery of a large consignment of cocaine concealed in the false bottom of her luggage.

Femi Babafemi, the director of media and advocacy at the NDLEA, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Babafemi said the suspect was arrested while en route to Beijing, China, aboard a Qatar Airways flight departing from Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

He said that the suspect, who claimed she travelled to China to buy items for sale in Nigeria, was arrested on June 21 at the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport based on credible intelligence.

“A search of her checked-in luggage led to the discovery of four large parcels of cocaine concealed in a false bottom professionally created in her bag.

“The parcels of the class A drug found hidden in the bag have a combined weight of 7.5 kilograms,” he said.

In another major interdiction operation, Mr Babafemi said that operatives of two Special Operations Units of NDLEA tracked and monitored a container laden with 195 big sacks of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of cannabis from Toronto, Canada, for over four weeks.

He said that the operation, which was carried out on Wednesday, had a total of 4,959 kilograms of the illicit drug consignment worth over N12.3 billion in street value seized.

He added that the drugs were recovered from the container during a joint examination of the shipment by officers of the Apapa Strategic Command of the Agency, men of the Customs Service, other security agencies, and port stakeholders at the Apapa Port Complex, Lagos.

“The large illicit drug consignment loaded into a 40ft container comprising a Ford and a Nissan vehicle came under the NDLEA tracking and monitoring system since April 25.

“The consignment arrived in Toronto, Canada, via truck, Montreal via rail on April 29.

“It was loaded on another vessel on May 23 before arriving Tincan port, Lagos on June 4 and discharged there on June 5 before the container eventually left Tincan and arrived Apapa port on Monday, June 22,” he said.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives in FCT Abuja, in a joint operation with their colleagues in Anambra, have unravelled a syndicate which planted illicit drugs in the luggage of unsuspecting passengers in motor parks.

Mr Babafemi said that their trick came to the fore when operatives in Abuja intercepted a consignment of methamphetamine in a Sienna bus coming from Nnewi, Anambra State, at Abaji, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Saturday, June 20.

He said that during a search of the bus, a waybill package was recovered containing whitish substances suspected to be methamphetamine concealed inside a black nylon bag.

He added that the consignment was also placed in another sack of clothes, with the receiver’s phone number written on it.

He also added that a follow-up operation conducted the same day led to the arrest of the supposed receiver of the waybill at Utako motor park.

“She, however, vehemently denied knowledge and ownership of the package in her luggage.

“This led to a swift arrest of the loaders of the Sienna bus in Nnewi, where one of them revealed that the drug package was put into the woman’s bag by him on the directive of the driver of the bus.

“His revelations made the driver open up and mention one of his passengers as the actual owner of the drug.

“The suspect was then picked up at Utako, FCT, during another follow-up operation. The illicit consignment weighed 467.7grams,” he said.

(NAN)