Video: NDLEA arrests US-based grandmother after daughter allegedly sent her drugs hidden in gift wrapping
Abdullateef Fowewe
A 62-year-old Nigerian-American grandmother has been arrested at Lagos airport after arriving from the United States with nearly 9.5 kilograms of high-grade cannabis concealed in gift-wrapped packages, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi on Sunday highlighted the case in a post on X, questioning the family involvement, “What kind of a daughter will give her own mother a bag loaded with illicit drugs wrapped in gifts wrapping papers to deliver to her boyfriend in Nigeria all the way from the US?”
He added, “As we keep saying, except you’re part of the scheme, never accept to carry a luggage you don’t know its content because @ndlea_nigeria will always get you.”
Babafemi urged the public to share the warning as more people prepare to travel home for Christmas.
The suspect, Anetor Gloria Ubong, a realtor based in Richmond, Texas, who holds both Nigerian and US passports, was intercepted on 21 October 2026 upon arrival on a United Airlines flight from Houston at Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
Officers searched her two checked-in boxes and recovered 18 parcels of “Loud” (a high-grade/synthetic cannabis) weighing 9.45 kg, hidden with gift-wrapping paper.
In her statement to investigators, Ubong said the box had been delivered to her home in the United States by her daughter and the daughter’s future brother-in-law for onward delivery in Nigeria to her daughter’s fiancé, identified as Jibola.
The NDLEA has repeatedly cautioned travellers, particularly those returning for festive seasons, against accepting luggage or packages whose contents they have not personally packed—even from close family members.
The agency has documented multiple cases in which relatives or acquaintances are used as couriers, whether knowingly or unwittingly.
Officials stress that detection methods at Nigerian airports remain effective and that ignorance of contents is not a defence under the law.
The latest arrest comes amid heightened scrutiny of international routes ahead of the Christmas travel peak.
