NDLEA Intercepts Chinese Grandma as Massive Drug Operation Unfolds

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The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said its operatives have arrested a 63-year-old Chinese woman, Ting Hung Kiong, for allegedly attempting to smuggle a large consignment of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, into Nigeria.

The suspect, a Chinese national reportedly naturalised in Malaysia, was arrested on Sunday, May 17, 2026, upon arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, from Thailand through Dubai aboard an Emirates flight.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the suspect was intercepted at the Terminal 2 arrival hall of the airport.

Babafemi stated that investigations showed the suspect travelled from Malaysia to Thailand before proceeding to Nigeria through the United Arab Emirates with two large travel boxes containing 31 kilograms of the synthetic cannabis.

During interrogation, the suspect reportedly claimed she works as a caregiver in Malaysia and said her daughter sponsored the trip from Malaysia to Thailand and then to Nigeria.

“She 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.

In a related development, NDLEA operatives also intercepted another large shipment of illicit drugs at the import shed of the Lagos airport.

The agency disclosed that the consignment, which arrived from India aboard an Emirates cargo flight, contained 1,825,710 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg valued at ₦2.19 billion.

The statement added that after close monitoring, the 29 cartons of the opioid shipment were handed over to the NDLEA by the Nigeria Customs Service on Friday, May 22, 2026.

At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, May 20, arrested a suspect identified as Onyeka Valentine Emeka during the inward clearance of passengers on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sierra Leone through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The agency stated that the suspect later excreted 185.36 grams of cocaine after being placed under observation.

Similarly, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, NDLEA operatives arrested a 29-year-old building engineer, Babatunde Prosper Afekhide, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Milan, Italy, through Addis Ababa.

A search of his luggage reportedly led to the recovery of 10,280 pills of Tramadol and Tapentadol concealed inside a carton in his suitcase.

In Lagos, NDLEA operatives at a courier company intercepted 1,174 pills of MDMA hidden in bicycle luggage carriers bound for the Netherlands, 66 pills of Tramadol concealed in soap containers destined for the United States, and 18 tablets hidden in body cream containers heading to the United Kingdom.

In Edo State, operatives raided Igwe community in Owan East Local Government Area, recovering 59 jumbo bags of skunk weighing 489 kilograms alongside cannabis seeds weighing 9 kilograms.

In Kano State, a suspect identified as Isah Sani, 30, was arrested along the Zaria-Kano road with 196,000 pills of Exol-5, while officers at the Seme border area of Lagos recovered 59 kilograms of skunk from a warehouse in Mowo, Badagry.

In Ekiti State, NDLEA operatives raided a warehouse in Ikole-Ekiti on Saturday, May 23, where they recovered 1,116 kilograms of skunk and arrested a 54-year-old suspect, Ogundana Adebayo Julius.

The agency added that its commands across the country also continued their War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres and communities during the week.

NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the momentum in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse.

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