By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it intercepted a large consignment of Canadian Loud, weighing 4,173.5 kilogrammes, with a street value of N10,433,750,000, at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.
The NDLEA disclosed this in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, on Wednesday, May 13.
According to the statement, the interception of the consignment of the high-potency strain of cannabis followed intelligence gathering, sustained surveillance, and tracking of the container, which was transloaded several times after leaving Toronto, Canada, on March 28.
The statement added that the container housing the illicit drug was conveyed by rail and arrived at the Lagos port on Saturday, May 9.
The interception of the consignment comes four days after NDLEA operatives raided a Lekki mansion used as a stash house, where 4,000 parcels of Canadian Loud, weighing 2,326 kilogrammes and valued at over N5.815 billion, were recovered.
“Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a large consignment of Canadian Loud, a high-potency strain of cannabis, weighing 4,173.5 kilogrammes, with a street value of Ten Billion Four Hundred and Thirty-Three Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N10, 433, 750,000.00) only at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.
“The successful interdiction of the illicit drug consignment followed painstaking intelligence gathering, sustained surveillance, and trailing of the container, which was transloaded a number of times since it left Toronto, Canada, on 28th March, conveyed through rails to Montreal, where it was loaded on board a vessel, Jakarta Express voyage, which arrived Tanger Med Port in Morocco on 15th April, discharged and reloaded on another vessel, Osaka voyage, which eventually arrived the Lagos port on Saturday, 9 May 2026.
“The over two months of monitoring the shipment by the Marine Intelligence Unit of NDLEA and the Tincan Island Strategic Command of the agency, working in close collaboration with international partners, particularly the United Kingdom Home Office International Operations, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, culminated in the eventual seizure of the consignment on Tuesday, 12 May during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA operatives, men of the Customs Service and other security agencies,” the statement read.
The NDLEA further disclosed that the illicit drugs were concealed inside two vehicles — a used Ford bus and a Mercedes-Benz C300 car — packed within the shipping container.
During the handover of the exhibits by the Nigeria Customs Service at the port in Lagos on Wednesday, NDLEA Director of Seaports Operations, ACG Ibinabo Archie-Abia, said the operation demonstrated the effectiveness of inter-agency cooperation and intelligence-led policing in combating transnational organised crime.
On his part, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Marwa (retd.), commended officers of the Tincan Command and the Marine Intelligence Unit for their professionalism.
Marwa stressed that the recent seizures highlight a coordinated attempt by international drug syndicates to flood Nigeria with synthetic cannabis strains.
He said, “This second massive seizure in less than a week is a clear message to the international syndicates who think they can use our ports as entry points for their soul-destroying trade, that the synergy between NDLEA and Customs Service, as well as other security agencies, and our international partners like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the UK-HOIO, and the US DEA is yielding fantastic results. We will not rest until every link in this supply chain is broken and those behind these shipments are brought to justice.”
