STERLING, Va. – Three months after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized more than 10 pounds of marijuana in a Nigeria-bound passenger’s baggage, officers at Washington Dulles International Airport intercepted another Nigeria-bound traveler who attempted to smuggle weed.
CBP officers encountered the traveler on January 14, as he attempted to board a flight to Lagos. Officers inspected his baggage and discovered a green substance in two vacuum-packed bags.
Officers escorted the traveler to CBP’s inspection station and tested the substance. Those tests were positive for the properties of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The marijuana weighed a combined two pounds, four ounces. It had a street value of about $1,800 in the United States and about $6,500 in Nigeria.
Marijuana is illegal in Nigeria for both recreational and medical uses.
CBP turned the traveler and marijuana over to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police who charged him with narcotics possession charges.
In October 2022, CBP officers seized more than 10 pounds of marijuana in a Nigeria-bound passenger’s baggage at Dulles Airport. These seizures are unusual as Nigeria is about 5,500 miles away from Dulles Airport.
“It is remarkable that this is a second traveler destined to 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 by a Customs and Border Protection officer and potential incarceration,” said Kim Der-Yeghiayan, Acting Area Port Director for CBP’s Area Port of Washington, D.C. “Every day, CBP officers diligently inspect international travelers and cargo at Dulles Airport in our continuing hunt for dangerous and illegal products that could potentially harm our citizens and our communities.”
CBP officers and agents seized an average of 4,732 pounds of dangerous drugs every day at our nation’s air, land and sea ports of entry. See what else CBP accomplished during "A Typical Day" in 2021.
CBP's border security mission is led at our nation’s Ports of Entry by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
Learn more about CBP at www.CBP.gov.
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