Brit grandmother, 67, is caught trying to board flight to London with cocaine worth £1million hidden in plantain peels

By SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 16:43, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 16:43, 7 July 2026 A British-Nigerian grandmother has been caught trying to board a London-bound flight with £1million worth of cocaine hidden in plantain peels.  Care worker Mary Yetunde Barek was arrested at Murtala Muhammed airport in Lagos after she was found with around 13kg of narcotics in her luggage as she attempted to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to Heathrow on June 29, according to Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.  Barek, from Ondo state,  'admitted full ownership of the recovered cocaine', after she was apprehended in the airport's departure lounge, the NDLEA said. Barek, who lives in the UK, concealed the drugs 'in peels of plantain, which appeared as real plantains' and were packed among other food items. Footage shared by the Drug Enforcement Agency showed authorities searching through two suitcases as they discovered plastic bags with what appeared to be bundles of plantains.  However, as airport police sliced into the peels, they discovered packaged powder.  The NDLEA said the stash of narcotics was worth more than £1million.   It comes as a British mother and her daughter were arrested at a Spanish airport after allegedly trying to fly back to the UK with 42kg of cocaine in their luggage. Care worker Mary Yetunde Barek was caught trying to board a London-bound flight with £1million worth of cocaine hidden in plantain peels Care worker Mary Yetunde Barek was arrested at Murtala Muhammed airport in Lagos after she was found with around 13kg of narcotics in her luggage as she attempted to board a Virgin Atlantic flight to Heathrow The pair, aged 47 and 19, allegedly posed as tourists visiting the east coast city of Valencia for Easter before attempting to return to Britain with suitcases full of the class-A drug. The cocaine had been packed into two suitcases, inside 23 packets and in tablet form, according to local press reports. The pair are said to have been booked on a flight back to Birmingham. They were remanded to a local jail after appearing before a judge in Quart de Poblet, a municipality near Valencia, which is the closest to Valencia's Manises Airport. In May, Spanish police went public with the arrests of a British couple aged 33 and 34 held at the same airport after 33 kilos of marijuana were found in their luggage.  They claimed at the time they were tourists coming from Thailand. The pair were remanded in custody after suspicious officers picked them out from other passengers arriving because of their 'nervous and evasive attitude.'