THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Saudi Arabia-bound woman after she excreted 80 pellets of cocaine at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

According to NDLEA Spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the woman identified as 46-year-old Adisa Afusat Olayinka is from Kwara State.

Babafemi said that Olayinka was arrested on Wednesday by NDLEA operatives as she made her way out of the country, heading for Jeddah to perform a lesser hajj at the time of the arrest.

“The 46-year-old Mrs. Adisa Afusat Olayinka who lives in Ibafo, Ogun state hails from Ilorin, in Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State,” he said.

“She was arrested on Wednesday 24th November at the boarding screening area of the airport during an outward clearance of Qatar Airways flight 1418. She was subsequently taken into custody where she excreted 80 pellets of the illicit drug between Wednesday and Saturday, 27th Nov.”

Olayinka, during interviews by the NDLEA, explained that she saved N2.5million over a period of one year to buy the drugs in bits from six different people at Akala, Mushin area of Lagos.

The suspect further said she was trading in clothes but had to borrow N1 million from three persons to make up the money used to buy the drugs, noting that she spent another N1 million to renew her passport, visa, and buy return flight tickets.

She said she was encouraged to traffic the drugs by a woman she met during her last Umrah trip to Saudi Arabia in 2019. She added that she needed to raise N7 million for In Vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment due to pressure from people because she had been married for 28 years without a child due to fertility challenges.