By Adesakin Adefemi
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 63-year-old Chinese national for allegedly attempting to smuggle 31kg of synthetic cannabis into Nigeria, as part of a week-long crackdown that yielded seizures worth billions of naira.
Ting Hung Kiong, who holds Malaysian citizenship, was intercepted on May 17 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. She arrived on an Emirates flight from Thailand via Dubai with two large travel boxes containing Canadian Loud, a high-potency strain of cannabis.
Kiong told investigators she works as a caregiver in Malaysia and was sponsored by her daughter for the trip. She said she spent two weeks in Thailand before being handed the consignment at an airport for delivery in Nigeria.
In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives recovered 1,825,710 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg valued at ₦2.19 billion at the Lagos airport import shed The shipment arrived from India via Emirates Cargo and was handed over by the Nigeria Customs Service on May 22 after weeks of monitoring.
The agency also made arrests at other international gateways. At Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, Onyeka Emeka was detained on May 20 after excreting 185.36g of cocaine on arrival from Sierra Leone via Addis Ababa. In Abuja, 29-year-old building engineer Babatunde Afekhide was arrested while attempting to board a flight to Milan with 10,280 pills of Tramadol and Tapentadol concealed in his luggage.
NDLEA operatives intercepted additional drug parcels at a Lagos courier company destined for Europe and the United States. Seizures included 1,174 pills of MDMA hidden in a bicycle carrier heading to the Netherlands, 66 Tramadol pills concealed in soap bound for the US, and 18 Tramadol tablets hidden in body cream going to the UK.
Domestic raids also produced significant hauls. In Edo State, officers recovered 489kg of skunk cannabis and 9kg of cannabis seeds in Igwe community, Owan East LGA. In Ekiti State, a warehouse raid in Ikole-Ekiti on May 23 led to the seizure of 1,116kg of skunk and the arrest of 54-year-old Ogundana Adebayo Julius.
Other operations saw the arrest of Isah Sani with 196,000 pills of Exol-5 along the Zaria-Kano road, and the recovery of 59kg of skunk from a warehouse in Badagry, Lagos. The agency said the seizures form part of its sustained push against both drug supply and demand.
NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa commended operatives from Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Edo, Ekiti, Seme, and Kano commands for the results. He urged them to maintain momentum in disrupting trafficking networks while expanding the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns across schools and communities nationwide.
