63-year-old Chinese grandmother arrested at Lagos Airport with Canadian loud cannabis

Stanley Ihedigbo

A 63-year-old Chinese national, Ting Hung Kiong, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, over an alleged attempt to smuggle a large consignment of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, into Nigeria.

According to the Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Femi Babafemi, the female Chinese national, who is naturalised in Malaysia, was arrested on Sunday, May 17, 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 Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

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 kilograms.

During an interview, the 63-year-old suspect, who claimed 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, another major 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 1,825,710 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, valued at N2,190,852,000, were eventually handed over to the NDLEA by the Nigeria Customs Service on Friday, May 22, 2026.

In another successful interdiction operation, NDLEA operatives at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on Wednesday, May 20, intercepted a suspect, Onyeka Valentine Emeka, during the inward clearance of passengers on an 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 Wednesday, May 21, 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 with foil paper and hidden inside a carton in a suitcase, apparently to evade detection.

In yet another operation at a courier company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted 1,174 pills of MDMA (Ecstasy) concealed in a bicycle luggage carrier heading to the Netherlands; 66 pills of Tramadol 225mg hidden in a soap container bound for the United States; and 18 tablets of Tramadol 225mg concealed in a body cream container heading to the United Kingdom.

In Edo State, NDLEA operatives acting on intelligence raided the Igwe community in Owan East Local Government Area, where a total of 59 jumbo bags of skunk weighing 489kg and cannabis seeds weighing 9kg were recovered.

While a suspect, Isah Sani, 30, was nabbed with 196,000 pills of Exol-5 on Wednesday, May 20, along the Zaria-Kano Road in Kano State, NDLEA officers at the Seme border in the Badagry area of Lagos recovered 59kg of skunk from a warehouse in Mowo, Badagry, on Tuesday, May 19.

Another operational success was recorded in Ekiti State, where NDLEA operatives on Saturday, May 23, 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) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities during the past week.

These included WADA enlightenment lectures for students and staff of Command Day School, Mokola, Ibadan, Oyo State; Girls Secondary School, Amenyi, Anambra State; Matazu Model Primary School, Matazu LGA, Katsina State; C&S Primary School, Majidun, Ikorodu, Lagos State; Alufo High School, Apugo, Enugu State; Aramoko District Commercial Secondary School, Aramoko-Ekiti, Ekiti State; and Government Girls Secondary School, Kurna, Kano State, among others.

While commending the officers and men of the MMIA, NAIA, AIIA, Edo, Ekiti, Seme, and Kano Commands, as well as those of DOGI, for the arrests and seizures, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), noted that their drug supply reduction efforts were well balanced with WADA sensitisation activities. He charged them and their compatriots across the country to continue raising the operational bar.