The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted a massive consignment of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, with an estimated street value of ₦12.397 billion, following a major intelligence-led operation at Apapa Port, Lagos.
The seizure was confirmed in a statement issued on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who disclosed that NDLEA operatives monitored the container for more than four weeks before successfully intercepting it.
According to the agency, the 40-foot container contained 195 large sacks of Canadian Loud weighing a total of 4,959 kilograms. The shipment also contained a Ford and a Nissan vehicle.
Babafemi explained that the container was placed under surveillance on April 25 after leaving Toronto, Canada. It was transported by truck to Montreal, moved by rail, passed through Tanger Med Port in Morocco, and was later loaded onto another vessel before arriving at Tin Can Port, Lagos, on June 4. It was eventually moved to Apapa Port, where NDLEA officers intercepted it during a joint inspection with the Nigeria Customs Service, other security agencies and port stakeholders on June 23.
In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), working with their counterparts in Anambra State, uncovered a syndicate that allegedly plants illicit drugs in the luggage of unsuspecting passengers travelling on commercial buses.
The operation began after officers intercepted a Sienna bus travelling from Nnewi, Anambra State, at Abaji in the FCT. During a search of the vehicle, they recovered a package containing 467.7 grams of methamphetamine hidden inside a black nylon bag, which had been concealed in a sack of clothes bearing the receiver’s phone number.
A follow-up operation led to the arrest of the intended recipient, Gloria Peter, at Utako Motor Park in Abuja. However, she denied ownership or knowledge of the package.
Further investigations resulted in the arrest of the bus loaders in Nnewi, where one of them confessed that he placed the drugs inside the woman’s luggage on the instruction of the bus driver, Abdurrazak Isah.
The driver later identified one of his passengers, Onyebuchi Victor Okoye, as the owner of the illicit consignment. NDLEA operatives subsequently arrested Okoye in another follow-up operation.
Babafemi said the agency remains committed to reducing drug trafficking through sustained enforcement operations while continuing its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign across schools, places of worship, workplaces and communities.
He added that WADA sensitisation programmes were recently held in schools across Yobe, Lagos, Kano, Kogi and Enugu states as part of efforts to educate Nigerians on the dangers of drug abuse.
