The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has arrested a 63-year-old Chinese woman, Ting Hung Kiong, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 31 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday.
Babafemi said the suspect, who reportedly naturalised in Malaysia, was arrested on Sunday, May 17, 2026, upon arrival in Lagos from Thailand via Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight.
According to him, NDLEA operatives attached to the Terminal 2 Arrival Hall intercepted the suspect after discovering two large travel boxes loaded with the illicit substance.
“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,” the statement said.
The anti-narcotics agency also announced the interception of a major opioid shipment at the Lagos airport import shed.
Babafemi stated that the consignment, which arrived from India aboard an Emirates Cargo flight, contained 1,825,710 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg valued at N2,190,852,000.
“Following close monitoring of the consignment by NDLEA operatives since its arrival from India aboard an Emirates Cargo flight, the 29 large cartons containing One Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ten (1,825,710) tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, worth Two Billion, One Hundred and Ninety Million, Eight Hundred and Fifty-Two Thousand Naira (N2,190,852,000) were eventually handed over to the NDLEA by the Customs Service on Friday 22nd May 2026,” he said.
In a separate operation at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, NDLEA operatives arrested one Onyeka Valentine Emeka during inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sierra Leone via Addis Ababa.
The agency said the suspect excreted 185.36 grams of cocaine while under observation.
Similarly, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NDLEA operatives arrested a 29-year-old building engineer, Babatunde Prosper Afekhide, on Wednesday, May 21, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Milan, Italy, via Addis Ababa.
Babafemi said a search of the suspect’s luggage led to the recovery of 10,280 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramadol 200mg and Tapentadol 250mg concealed in foil papers inside a carton hidden in a suitcase.
The NDLEA spokesman further disclosed that operatives at a courier company in Lagos intercepted 1,174 pills of MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, concealed in a bicycle luggage carrier heading to the Netherlands.
He added that 66 pills of Tramadol 225mg hidden inside a soap container bound for the United States and 18 tablets concealed in a body cream container heading to the United Kingdom were also seized.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives raided Igwe community in Owan East Local Government Area, recovering 59 jumbo bags of skunk weighing 489kg and 9kg of cannabis seeds.
The agency also said a 30-year-old suspect, Isah Sani, was arrested along the Zaria–Kano road in Kano State with 196,000 pills of Exol-5 on May 20.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, operatives reportedly recovered 59kg of skunk from a warehouse in Mowo on May 19.
In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives on May 23 raided a warehouse in 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.
The agency added that its nationwide War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitisation campaign continued across schools, worship centres and communities in different parts of the country.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Buba Marwa, commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the agency’s anti-drug campaign and enforcement efforts.
