The suspect, who works as a private security officer in Brazil, was apprehended on Friday, January 23, 2026, upon her arrival in Nigeria on a Qatar Airways flight, QR1431, following what the agency described as “processed intelligence.”
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, with 30.09 kilograms of heroin concealed in factory-sealed coffee packs, a consignment estimated to be worth over N3 billion in street value.
The suspect, who works as a private security officer in Brazil, was apprehended on Friday, January 23, 2026, upon her arrival in Nigeria on a Qatar Airways flight, QR1431, following what the agency described as “processed intelligence.”
NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday said, a search conducted on her two checked-in bags led to the discovery of 21 factory-sealed packets of Brazilian coffee.
However, further examination revealed that the packs did not contain coffee but white substances which tested positive for heroin, weighing a total of 30.09 kilograms.
The agency said the seizure is the single largest heroin interception ever recorded at the Abuja airport. During her preliminary interrogation, Benevides reportedly claimed she brought the illicit drug consignment into Nigeria under the guise of coming for a holiday.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, January 20, intercepted two passengers, identified as Adediran Adedoyin and Afatakpa Ochuko, who were travelling to Istanbul, Turkey, aboard a Turkish Airlines flight.
The suspects were found with a total of 3,990 pills of tapentadol 250mg and tramaking 225mg concealed inside food items packed in their bags.
Meanwhile, operatives of the agency’s Marine Command, in the early hours of Thursday, January 22, intercepted a wooden boat loaded with 44 jumbo bags of Ghana Loud, a high-potency strain of cannabis, weighing 1,848 kilograms, at Jakande Beach in Lekki, Lagos State.
The NDLEA said the drug shipment had just arrived from Ghana when its officers, acting on credible intelligence, stormed the location at about 1am, recovered the cannabis consignment and seized the boat used to convey it.
Babafemi said the arrests and seizures underscore the agency’s resolve to disrupt international and local drug trafficking networks operating across Nigeria’s borders, airports and waterways.
He added that investigations into all the cases were ongoing and that the suspects would be charged in court upon the conclusion of preliminary inquiries.