Nigerian detained at Beijing airport with 87 kg of marijuana
Customs officers at Beijing Capital International Airport detained an unidentified Nigerian man on 3 March 2009 when he returned to claim a suitcase holding 72 bricks of marijuana weighing 87.25 kg, abandoned the day before after he arrived from Lagos. Police called it China's biggest drug haul of the year.
🇨🇳 Beijing Capital International Airport, Beijing · China
An unidentified Nigerian man flew into Beijing Capital International Airport
from Lagos on 2 March 2009 and abandoned a suitcase at the airport, fearing
tight security.[1][2]When officers frisked him at the security check, they
found only a bag with clothes and $1,600 in cash.[1]He returned the next day
to claim the suitcase and was detained.[1][2]
Inside were 72 bricks of marijuana wrapped in black plastic bags, weighing
87.25 kg.[1][2]Beijing Customs called it the biggest drug haul in China that
year, and said smugglers were using more sophisticated methods while pledging
continued crackdowns.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The man was not identified and no charge or trial outcome was reported.
The China Daily item survives only in a forum reprint whose page does not show the original publication date; 17 March is the Tuesday the customs announcement was made.
China Daily ran a photo of officers questioning the handcuffed suspect, but its direct image address could not be recovered, so this report has no pictures.
Xinhe County police arrested five people and seized 797.83 g of cannabis, two live cannabis plants and 20,000 yuan in drug money in a case that linked a buyer in Xinhe to a seller in Yining. Officers caught the buyer on 15 July 2025 and the seller during a deal in a Yining barbecue restaurant on 27 July.
Hangzhou customs seized more than 400 g of cannabis from a US–Hangzhou parcel disguised as snacks and arrested the Hangzhou recipient after a controlled delivery; officers then caught the supplier returning through Shanghai Pudong airport on 26 June 2025. Police said the pair bought abroad to sell locally to fund their own use.
Xinhe County police arrested a villager on 2 June 2025 after a tip that he was growing cannabis behind his home in a cotton field, and uprooted 63 plants. He told officers he had planted seeds found while cleaning his house despite a prior cannabis penalty in 2014; police said a urine test showed recent use.
Police in Akto County, Xinjiang, arrested a man on 1 January 2024 after a tip that drugs might be hidden in his home, and seized 627 grams of raw cannabis plants with a drug-detection dog. He confessed to using drugs and the case remained under investigation.