The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has taken custody of 6,778.5 kilograms of a cannabis strain known as “Canadian Loud”.
The substance was intercepted in two containers at the Apapa seaport, Lagos, in a joint operation with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies.
The seizure was formalised at a handing-over ceremony at the port on Wednesday, July 1, where NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), represented by the agency’s Director of Seaport Operations, ACGN Ibinabo Archie-Abia, described it as a landmark demonstration of inter-agency cooperation.
Marwa said the drugs were recovered in two separate seizures on 15 and 24 June.
He said the seizures followed months of intelligence-led tracking by the NDLEA’s Special Investigation Unit and Marine Intelligence Unit, working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Nigeria Customs, after operatives identified that traffickers were routing shipments through complex, multi-continent maritime routes to evade detection.
Giving a breakdown of the shipments’ movement, Marwa said the first container, CAAU 7569127, left Toronto on 16 April, was moved by rail to Montreal, then shipped via Tangier Med in Morocco before arriving at Tin Can Island Port on 27 May and finally being intercepted at Apapa on 10 June.
The second, HAMU 3246311, left Montreal on 1 May, was trans-shipped through Algeciras, discharged at Tin Can Island on 4 June, and moved to Apapa on 22 June, where it was intercepted.
Marwa said the agency’s work would not end with confiscation, vowing to pursue the financial structures behind the syndicates so that traffickers “derive no benefit whatsoever” from the trade, and to identify, arrest and prosecute those responsible.
He commended the professionalism of NDLEA, Customs and other security personnel involved, describing the operation as proof of what intelligence-driven, cross-border collaboration can achieve against transnational organised crime.