NDLEA arrests Chinese grandmother with illicit drug consignment at Lagos airport
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 63-year-old Chinese grandmother, Ting Hung Kiong, for allegedly attempting to smuggle a large consignment of illicit drugs into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
The suspect, a Chinese national naturalised in Malaysia, was arrested on Sunday, May 17, upon her arrival from Thailand via Dubai aboard an Emirates Airline flight. NDLEA operatives attached to the Terminal 2 Arrival Hall intercepted her with two large travel boxes containing 31 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis.
According to the agency, preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect travelled from Malaysia to Thailand before heading to Nigeria through the United Arab Emirates. During interrogation, she reportedly disclosed that her daughter sponsored the trip and that she spent two weeks in Thailand before she was handed the illicit consignment at the airport for delivery in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport also recovered a major shipment of illicit drugs imported from India. The agency said the consignment, which arrived aboard an Emirates Cargo flight, contained 1,825,710 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg valued at over N2.1 billion. The shipment was eventually handed over to the NDLEA by the Nigeria Customs Service on Friday, May 22, after days of surveillance.
Similarly, operatives at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, intercepted a suspect identified as Onyeka Valentine Emeka during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sierra Leone via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The suspect was subsequently placed under observation and later excreted 185.36 grams of cocaine.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, NDLEA officers arrested a 29-year-old building engineer, Babatunde Prosper Afekhide, while he was attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Milan, Italy, via Addis Ababa. A search of his luggage led to the recovery of 10,280 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramadol 200mg and Tapentadol 250mg concealed with foil paper inside a carton hidden in his suitcase.
In another operation in Lagos, the agency intercepted 1,174 pills of MDMA concealed in bicycle luggage carriers meant for the Netherlands, while 66 pills of Tramadol 225mg hidden inside soap containers were seized en route to the United States. Additionally, 18 tablets of Tramadol 225mg concealed in body cream containers heading to the United Kingdom were recovered.
Elsewhere, NDLEA operatives recorded additional seizures across the country, including the recovery of 489 kilograms of skunk and nine kilograms of cannabis seeds during a raid on Igwe community in Edo State. In Ekiti State, officers raided a warehouse in Ikole-Ekiti and recovered 1,116 kilograms of skunk, leading to the arrest of a 54-year-old suspect, Ogundana Adebayo Julius. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended officers involved in the operations and urged commands nationwide to sustain the fight against drug trafficking and drug abuse through intensified enforcement and sensitisation campaigns.
