Customs and Border Protection officials recently busted a traveler bound for Lagos, Nigeria, finding two pounds and four ounces of marijuana in two vacuum-locked bags.
Authorities said that the drugs had a street value of around $1,800 in the U.S. and $6,500 in Nigeria.
Marijuana is illegal for both recreational and medicinal use in Nigeria. After the Jan. 14 bust, CBP agents turned the marijuana and the passenger over to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police.
Another Dulles flier was busted on Oct. 18 attempting to smuggle marijuana aboard a Nigeria-bound flight. In that incident, the unidentified traveler had a larger payload, attempting to smuggle 10 pounds and six ounces worth around $30,000 in Nigeria.
“Sometimes we discover illicit products, but intercepting a marijuana load crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Nigeria is quite unusual with the abundance of marijuana available around the globe,” Kim Der-Yeghiayan, acting area port director for CBP’s Area Port of Washington said in October.
The passenger in that case, however, was not with the luggage when it was examined, and authorities were not able at the time to find the person or persons who owned the suitcase.
After the Jan. 14 incident, Ms. Der-Yeghiayan said, “It is remarkable that this is a second traveler destined for Nigeria who decided that smuggling marijuana was an acceptable risk considering the travel expense and limited profit potential versus the high probability of being caught.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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