NDLEA seizes N10.4 billion worth of Canadian cannabis at Lagos port

By Kingsley Omonobi

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) seized a consignment of Canadian Loud—a high‑potency cannabis strain—totaling 4,173.5 kilograms and valued at more than N10.4 billion (Ten Billion, Four Hundred and Thirty‑Three Million, Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.

According to the agency, “The successful interdiction of the illicit drug consignment followed painstaking intelligence gathering, sustained surveillance, and trailing of the container, which was trans‑loaded a number of times since it left Toronto, Canada on 28th March.”

The shipment was first moved by rail to Montreal, where it was loaded onto the vessel Jakarta Express Voyage. That ship arrived at Tanger Med Port in Morocco on 15 April, was discharged, and then reloaded onto another vessel, Osaka Voyage, which reached 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 Customs Service and other security agencies,” the agency said.

The seizure follows a raid four days earlier on a Lekki mansion that served as a stash house, where 4,000 parcels of the same psychoactive substance—totaling 2,326 kilograms and worth over N5.8 billion—were recovered.

The Canadian drug consignments were professionally packed and hidden inside two vehicles—a used Ford bus and a Mercedes‑Benz C300—both placed within the shipping container.

Speaking during the handover of the exhibits by the NCS at the port in Lagos on Wednesday, 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.”

Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the officers of the Tincan Command and the MIU of the Agency for their vigilance and professional conduct.

He noted 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.

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