It is indeed a shocking haul, 4,173.5kg Canadian Loud with street value of N10.5bn, which would easily have entered the wrong hands, worsening Nigeria’s already terrible drug abuse problem.
Only the alert eyes of the operative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have just prevented that.
The illegal consignment of Canadian Loud, a high-potency strain of cannabis, had already found its way to the Tincan Island Port in Lagos, before it was intercepted.
The interception, the agency says, 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.
Information is that it 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.
IT was discharged and reloaded on another vessel, Osaka voyage, eventually arriving the Lagos Port on Saturday 9, May 2026.
No matter how long it took to arrive, the Marine Intelligence Unit of NDLEA and the Tincan Island Strategic Command of the Agency did not blink.
Working in close collaboration with international partners – United Kingdom Home Office International Operations, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, they were able to track the consignment.
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A joint examination of the Canadian Loud on Tuesday 12, May by NDLEA operatives, Customs Service officials and other security agencies bared what had a suspicion been all along.
The development comes barely four days after NDLEA operatives raided a Lekki mansion used as stash house where 4,000 parcels of same psychoactive substance weighing 2,326 kilograms worth over Five Billion Eight Hundred and Fifteen Million Naira (N5,815,000,000.00) were recovered.
According to a statement by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, the illicit drug consignments from Canada were professionally packed and concealed inside two vehicles: a used Ford Bus and a Mercedes Benz C300 car, stashed within the shipping container.
Speaking during the handover of the exhibits by the NCS at the Port in Lagos on Wednesday 13th May, the NDLEA’s Director of Seaports Operations, ACG Ibinabo ArchieAbia said the “achievement once again demonstrates the effectiveness of inter-agency cooperation, international collaboration, and intelligence-driven operations in combating transnational organized crime and illicit drug trafficking.”
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), while commending the officers of the Tincan Command and the MIU of the Agency for their vigilance and professional conduct, noting that the volume of recent Loud seizures highlights a coordinated attempt by international drug syndicates to flood the Nigerian market with synthetic strains of cannabis.
”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 Canadian Royal 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”, Marwa stated.
Cami Ezenwa is a Writer, Editor, Publicist, Biographer and Journalism Trainer
He has worked with the Daily Times, Daily Independent, Financial Standard and Business Television to mention some.
His ongoing Corporate Communications Master Class training series equips learners with credible hands-on skills for effective Media Relations, Public Communications & Corporate Affairs amongst others.
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