Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have apprehended y a Thai national, Ms Pattaphi Wimonnat who attempted to smuggle 43 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, into Nigeria through the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
Spokesman for the agency, Mr Femi Babafemi said in a statement that the 24-year-old suspect was arrested after the illicit consignment, weighing 46.60 kilogrammes, was found concealed in her luggage.
He disclosed that Wimonnat, who confessed to being a hired drug courier, was arrested on Thursday, February 20, 2025, during the inward clearance of passengers on a Qatar Airways flight from Thailand via Doha, Qatar.
She admitted that the drug syndicate which engaged her had promised to pay her $3,000 upon successfully delivering the consignment in Nigeria.
In a separate operation, Babafemi said NDLEA officers also intercepted 68 parcels of Ghanaian Loud, weighing 42.2 kilogrammes, concealed within the walls of crated cartons destined for London.
The seizure was made at the export shed of the Lagos airport on Friday, February 21.
Three suspects, including a freight agent and two dispatch riders, were initially detained.
The alleged mastermind, Samuel Bitris, was subsequently traced and arrested at his residence in Exodus Estate, Ajah, Lagos.
At the Port Harcourt Port Complex in Onne, Rivers State, NDLEA operatives, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, uncovered 49 cartons containing 49,000 pills of tamol, a brand of tramadol 225mg. The consignment was found in a 40ft container during a joint examination on Thursday, February 20.
In Nasarawa State, two suspects, Bello Adamu, 40, and Pius Azuka, 42, were arrested on Saturday, February 22, in Kokona/Keffi with 517 kilogrammes of skunk.
Similarly, in Niger State, two men, Usman Ruwa, 43, and Yunusa Haruna, 45, were apprehended on Thursday, February 20, along the Sabon Asibiti Road in Kontagora, while transporting 62.7 kilogrammes of skunk in a Toyota Corolla.
