….Arrests building engineer, one other with opioids, cocaine, recovers N2.1bn Tapentadol pills from India
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 63-year-old Chinese grandma, Ting Hung Kiong following her attempt to smuggle large consignment of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis into Nigeria.
The female Chinese national who naturalised in Malaysia was arrested on 17th May 2026 upon her arrival in Nigeria from Thailand via Dubai, UAE, aboard an Emirates Airline flight. She was intercepted by NDLEA operatives attached to the Terminal 2 Arrival Hall of the Lagos International Airport.
A statement by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi on Sunday said, investigation revealed that the suspect travelled from Malaysia to Thailand and subsequently to Nigeria via the UAE with two large travel boxes containing the synthetic cannabis consignment weighing 31.0 kilograms.
During an interview, the 63-year-old suspect who claims she works as a caregiver in Malaysia stated that her daughter sponsored her trip from Malaysia to Thailand and subsequently to Nigeria. She further disclosed that she spent two weeks in Thailand, before she was handed the illicit consignment at the Thailand airport to deliver in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the statement said, another major shipment of illicit drug consignment has been recovered at the import shed of the Lagos airport. Following close monitoring of the consignment by NDLEA operatives since its arrival from India aboard an Emirates Cargo flight, the 29 large cartons containing 1.8 million tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, worth N2,190,852,000 were eventually handed over to the NDLEA by the Customs Service on Friday.
In another successful interdiction operation, NDLEA operatives at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu state on 20th May, intercepted a suspect, Onyeka Valentine Emeka during the inward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sierra Leone via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. When placed under observation, the suspect excreted a total of 185.36 grams of cocaine.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a 29-year-old building engineer, Babatunde Prosper Afekhide was on 21st May arrested by NDLEA operatives while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Abuja via Addis Ababa to Milan Malpensa, Italy. A search conducted on his luggage led to the recovery of 10,280 pills of Tramaking 225mg; Tramadol 200mg and Tapentadol 250mg. The opioids were concealed using foil paper and hidden inside a carton, in a suitcase, obviously to evade detection.
In another operation at a courier company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted 1,174 pills of MDMA (Ecstasy) concealed in bicycle luggage carrier heading to Netherlands; 66 pills of tramadol 225mg hidden in soap container going to the United States and 18 tablets of tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream container heading to the United Kingdom.
In Edo state, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence raided Igwe community in Owan East LGA where a total of 59 jumbo bags of skunk weighing 489kg and cannabis seeds weighing 9kg were recovered.
While a suspect, Isah Sani was nabbed with 196,000 pills of exol-5 on 20th May along Zaria/Kano road, Kano state, NDLEA officers at Seme border, Badagry area of Lagos recovered 59kg skunk from a warehouse in Mowo, Badagry on 19th May.
Babafemi said, another operational success was recorded in Ekiti state where NDLEA operatives on Saturday, raided a warehouse located at N/56, Ikoyi community, Ikole-Ekiti and recovered 1,116 kilograms of skunk, while a 54-year-old suspect, Ogundana Adebayo Julius was arrested in connection with the seizure.
With the same zeal, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.
While commending the officers and men of the various Commands as well as those of DOGI for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd) noted their drug supply reduction efforts balanced with WADA sensitization activities while he charged them and their compatriots across the country to continue to raise the operational bar.
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