The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has detained a 24-year-old Thai lady, Ms. Pattaphi Wimonnat, for attempting to smuggle 43 parcels of Canadian Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis, weighing 46.60 kilogrammes into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, who made this known yesterday, said she was arrested after operatives discovered the illicit consignment in her boxes.
Babafemi said the suspect confessed to being a hired drug trafficker.
She was arrested last Thursday during the inward clearance of passengers on Qatar Airways flight from Thailand via Doha, Qatar at the Arrival Hall, Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport.
According to a statement by Babafemi, the drug cartel promised to pay her $3,000 upon delivery of the illicit consignment.
Babafemi said another bid by a syndicate to ship 68 parcels of Ghanaian Loud weighing 42.2kg concealed in walls of crated cartons to London, United Kingdom, through the export shed of the Lagos airport was also frustrated by NDLEA officers last Friday.
Babafemi’s statement reads: “Three suspects: 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.
“At the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers State, NDLEA officers on Thursday 20th February 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.’’
