A woman and a man were arrested in separate heroin smuggling cases within days of each other after authorities in Nigeria and Thailand allegedly uncovered large quantities of the drug hidden in their luggage. 

A Brakpan woman was arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja after 5.75kg of heroin was allegedly found hidden in her luggage. 

Authorities allege she was travelling with her three-year-old son to avoid arousing suspicion. 

The NDLEA is Nigeria’s federal anti-drug agency responsible for combating drug trafficking and other drug-related crimes. 

Bags containing drugs 

The 38-year-old arrived in Nigeria with her son on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha on July 6. 

In a statement, NDLEA director Femi Babafemi said officers became suspicious after the woman initially denied travelling with any checked luggage. 

He explained that officers quickly established that the two bags containing 14 large blocks of heroin weighing 5.75kg had baggage tags matching the claim tags attached to her passport. 

Babafemi said that the woman later admitted the bags belonged to her, claiming she had forgotten she had checked them in. 

Transnational trafficking 

He said the woman claimed to have travelled from Cambodia via Doha to Abuja. 

“Intelligence leading to her arrest indicates she is a member of a transnational drug trafficking organisation, along with her husband or partner, who is based in Cambodia, from where they operate their drug network between Cambodia and South Africa.” 

Babafemi added that investigations are continuing.  

A few days later, on July 9, a South African man was arrested in Thailand for smuggling 17.5kg of heroin. The drugs were hidden in coffee and green tea bags, worth over 7.3m baht (over R3.5m).  

Heroin headed to Madagascar 

In a statement, the customs department said its investigation and suppression division inspected and searched the luggage of the man, who was travelling from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, via Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand, to Ivato International Airport in Madagascar. 
 
According to the department, heroin is a category 1 narcotic, 

“If the drugs had reached their destination in Madagascar, their value would have been over 22.75m baht. 

“This constitutes an offence of importing a category 1 narcotic drug (heroin) into the kingdom without permission, which is a violation of the Customs Act BE 2560 (2017) and the Narcotics Code.” 

Network News has reached out to the NDLEA, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, the South African Embassy in Nigeria and the Customs Department in Thailand for comment. This story will be updated if responses are received. 

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