A 67-year-old Nigerian-British grandmother has been arrested after authorities allegedly discovered 13 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside fake plantain peels packed among food items in her luggage at an airport in Lagos.

The woman, identified by Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as Mary Yetunde Barek, was stopped at the departure hall of Terminal 2 at Murtala Muhammed International Airport while preparing to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to London. According to the agency, Barek works as a caregiver in the United Kingdom and was arrested on 28 June during a routine operation.

The NDLEA said officers carried out a detailed search of her luggage after identifying suspicious items. During the inspection, they allegedly uncovered 31 large wraps of cocaine, carefully moulded and packaged to resemble hands of plantain. The drugs, which had been concealed among other food items, weighed a total of 13 kilograms.

According to the agency, Barek admitted ownership of the drugs during questioning following her arrest. The NDLEA has not released any further details about whether investigators believe others were involved or whether additional arrests are expected as enquiries continue.

The case has attracted significant attention online, with many social media users questioning whether the grandmother may have been manipulated or coerced into transporting the drugs because of her age.

One person commented:

"Ahh… I believe she may have been a victim of criminal exploitation. It's possible she didn't even know what she was carrying."

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Another wrote:

"This is awful. How can you treat someone's mother like this just because of money? She's innocent, I can tell. No-one deserves to be treated that way."

Others, however, were far less convinced that she was an unwitting participant. One person commented:

"What do they say again… the older, the wiser. She knew exactly what she was doing LMAO."

Drug trafficking organisations have previously been known to recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds, including older adults, to transport illegal substances across international borders. However, authorities have not suggested that this was the case here, and the circumstances surrounding Barek's arrest remain under investigation.

As the legal process continues, many questions remain unanswered. Whether investigators uncover evidence of a wider network or determine that she acted alone, the case has already become one of the most talked about airport drug seizures of the week because of the unusual method used to conceal the alleged cocaine and the age of the suspect.