NDLEA intercepts N10.4bn cannabis at Lagos port
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 kilograms and value at over N10.43 billion.
The consignment was intercepted at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.
The operatives have been trailing the container which was transloaded a number of times since it left Toronto, Canada on 28th March.
The agency said that the consignment was 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 9th May 2026.
The NDLEA said that the covert operation lasted over two months, and was conducted 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.
The 4,173.5 kilograms of the Canadian loud was subsequently seized on Tuesday 12th May during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA operatives, the Nigeria ustoms Service and other security agencies.
The seizure of the cannabis was made barely four days after NDLEA operatives raided a Lekki mansion in Lagos and seized 4,000 parcels of same psychoactive substance weighing 2,326 kilograms, and worth ove N5.815 billion.
The illicit drug consignments were also shipped to Nigeria from Canada, and professionally packed and concealed inside two vehicles: a used Ford Bus and a Mercedes Benz C300 car, stashed within a shipping container.
The NDLEA Director of Seaports Operations, Ibinabo ArchieAbia said the success of the operation “demonstrates the effectiveness of inter-agency cooperation, international collaboration, and intelligence-driven operations in combating transnational organized crime and illicit drug trafficking.”
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers involved in the operation for their vigilance and professional conduct.
He said that the volume of recent Loud seizures highlights a coordinated attempt by international drug syndicates to flood the Nigerian market with the synthetic strains of the cannabis.
”We will not rest until every link in this supply chain is broken and those behind these shipments are brought to justice”, Marwa stated.
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