NDLEA Arrests Thai Lady With Boxes Of Illicit Drug Consignments At Lagos Airport
…Intercepts UK-bound drug shipments concealed in walls of crated cartons
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, have arrested a 24-year-old Thai lady, Ms. Pattaphi Wimonnat, who attempted to smuggle 43 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 46.60 kilograms into Nigeria.
The NDLEA in a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media & Advocacy of the Agency said that its officials discovered the illicit consignment in Wimonnat’s boxes and was arrested on Thursday, February 20, 2025, during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight from Thailand via Doha.
The statement said that the suspect confessed to being a hired drug trafficker, adding that the drug cartel, which recruited her promised to pay her $3,000 upon successful delivery of the illicit drug consignment in Nigeria.
Babafemi also said that another bid by a drug trafficking syndicate to ship 68 parcels of Ghanaian Loud with a total weight of 42.2kg concealed in walls of crated cartons to London, UK, through the export shed of the Lagos airport was also frustrated by NDLEA officers on Friday, February 21, 2025.
The NDLEA said that the three suspects that included a freight agent and two dispatch riders were initially arrested in connection with the seizure before the mastermind of the shipment, Samuel Bitris, was swiftly traced to his Exodus Estate, Ajah, Lagos home where he was arrested.
Similarly, the NDLEA said that its officers on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers state, intercepted 49 cartons containing 49,000 pills of tamol, a brand of tramadol 225mg in a 40ft container during a joint examination of the shipment with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
The statement also said that in Nasarawa state, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, February 22, 2025, arrested two suspects, Bello Adamu, 40, and Pius Azuka, 42 at Kokona/Keffi with 517kg of skunk, while two other suspects: Usman Ruwa, 43, and Yunusa Haruna, 45, were nabbed in a Toyota Corolla car conveying 62.7 kilograms of skunk along Sabon Asibiti road Kontagora, Niger state on Thursday, February 20, 2025.
According to Babafemi; “With the same vigour, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.
“These include: WADA sensitisation lecture to students and staff of Maku Grammar School, Tapa, Oyo state; Comprehensive Secondary School, Orogwe, Imo state; Jama’atu Islamiyya Secondary School, Ankpa, Kogi state; and Owerri-Aba Primary School, Ugwunagba, Imo state, among others,” it said.
While commending the officers and men of MMIA, PHPC, Niger, and Nasarawa Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig-General Buba Marwa (retd), said that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated.
