South African Woman Detained at Lagos Airport with 36.6kg Cocaine

A South African woman has been arrested with over thirty-six-point-six kilograms of cocaine at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

Thirty-four-year-old QHINA BEAUTY was arrested on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, as she was while trying to board a Qatar Airways flight to South Africa, via Doha.

The spokesman for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, FEMI BABAFEMI, said a search on QHINA’s two travelling bags revealed thirty blocks of cocaine, laced with dried pepper, and packed in seven separate parcels.

BABAFEMI said during the suspect revealed during interrogation that she arrived in Nigeria on September 30, 2026, specifically to pick up the consignment.

In a statement, the spokesman quoted the South African woman saying she was recruited by another South African lady, who promised to pay Twenty Thousand Rands upon successful delivery of the hard drug.

He said further investigation led to the arrest of forty-six-year-old car dealer, UCHENNA VICTOR UMUNNAKWE, along Apple Junction/Ago Palace Way, after days of surveillance at his residence in the Shasha, Akowonjo axis.

UMUNNAKWE is alleged to have admitted during interrogation that he received the woman at the Lagos airport, lodged her at a hotel in Amuwo-Odofin, before moving her to another hotel near the airport, ahead of her departure.