Anti-narcotics apprehend Chinese businessman, 80-year-old woman over ïllegal drûgs hidden in food items

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Chinese businessman, Liang Tak You, and an 80-year-old woman, Grace Ekpeme, in a nationwide operation that uncovered consignments of synthetic cannabis—popularly known as Colorado and Canadian Loud—concealed in local and imported food items.

According to a statement released on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the drugs were hidden in moimoi sachets and canned food products shipped into the country.

Liang was apprehended on Friday at the arrival hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. Acting on intelligence, NDLEA operatives tracked him from his point of departure.

Babafemi revealed that the suspect, a Chinese national naturalised in Malaysia, had traveled to Thailand to collect two suitcases containing 50 parcels of Loud, weighing 26.10kg. He flew to Nigeria via Dubai on an Emirates flight.

NDLEA officers monitored his movements and allowed him to clear immigration and other airport checks before arresting him as he attempted to exit the terminal.

“In a separate incident, the octogenarian, Mrs. Grace Ekpeme, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday, July 26, at Edet-Nsa Street, Base Site, Calabar South, Cross River State, with over 3kg of skunk, following intelligence reports on her drug trafficking activities.

“Also in Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, July 23, intercepted a suspect, Chidi Agbafo, along the Epe–Ajah Expressway while transporting consignments of 21.7kg of Colorado—some of which were packaged in moimoi cooking sachets—and 3.8 litres of codeine-based syrup in a commercial bus en route to Warri and Oghara in Delta State.

“At the Apapa seaport in Lagos, a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs personnel, and other security agencies on Friday, July 25, uncovered 101kg of Canadian Loud. The drugs were factory-packed in 202 tins of imported food items labelled ‘Bean Salad Mix’ and concealed in two Toyota Sienna buses inside a container that originated from Canada”, the statement added.

Meanwhile, on the Abuja-Kaduna highway, NDLEA operatives on patrol on Wednesday, July 23, “arrested one Usman Musa with 71,000 pills of opioids—including tramadol, diazepam, and Exol-5—while travelling in a commercial bus headed to Kano.”