63‑Year‑Old Chinese Grandmother Arrested in NDLEA Drug‑Trafficking Bust

By Kingsley Omonobi

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested a 63‑year‑old Chinese woman, Ting Hung Kiong, after she attempted to smuggle a large consignment of Canadian Loud, a synthetic cannabis strain, into Nigeria.

The agency said the Chinese national, who had naturalised in Malaysia, was taken into custody on Sunday, 17 May 2026, upon her arrival in Nigeria from Thailand via Dubai, UAE, aboard an Emirates Airline flight.

“She was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the Terminal 2 Arrival Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos,” the agency added.

Investigation revealed that the suspect travelled from Malaysia to Thailand and then to Nigeria via the UAE, carrying two large travel boxes that contained a synthetic cannabis consignment weighing 31.0 kilograms.

During an interview, the 63‑year‑old suspect, who claims she works as a caregiver in Malaysia, said 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 agency said another major shipment of illicit drugs was 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 contained one million, eight hundred and twenty‑five thousand, seven hundred and ten (1,825,710) tablets of Tapentadol 250 mg,” the agency noted. The opioids, worth 2,190,852,000 naira, were eventually handed over to the NDLEA by the Customs Service on Friday, 22 May 2026.

In another successful interdiction operation, NDLEA operatives at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on Wednesday 20 May 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 yielded a total of 185.36 grams of cocaine.

At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a 29‑year‑old building engineer, Babatunde Prosper Afekhide, was arrested on Wednesday 21 May by NDLEA operatives while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Abuja via Addis Ababa to Milan Malpensa, Italy. A search of his luggage recovered 10,280 pills of Tramaking 225 mg, Tramadol 200 mg and Tapentadol 250 mg. The opioids were concealed using 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 225 mg hidden in a soap container bound for the United States; and 18 tablets of tramadol 225 mg 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 489 kg and cannabis seeds weighing 9 kg were recovered.

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

Another operational success was recorded in Ekiti state where NDLEA operatives on Saturday 23 May raided a warehouse located at N/56, Ikoyi community, Ikole‑Ekiti and recovered 1,116 kg of skunk while 54‑year‑old suspect Ogundana Adebayo Julius was arrested in connection with the seizure.

NDLEA said that, with the same zeal, its commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities over the past week.

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

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

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