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NDLEA intercepts massive N10.4bn Canadian Loud shipment

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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 with a street value of N10, 433, 750,000.00 at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.

The Director of Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement he issued to newsmen.

In the statement on Wednesday, Babafemi said 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 March 28, 2026.

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 April 15, discharged and reloaded on another vessel, Osaka Voyage, which eventually arrived the Lagos port on May 9, 2026.

The over two months of monitoring the shipment by the Marine Intelligence Unit of NDLEA and Tincan Island Strategic Command of the Agency, working in close collaboration with international partners, particularly the United Kingdom Home Office International Operations, United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, culminated in the eventual seizure of the consignment on May 12 during a joint examination of the container by operatives of the NDLEA, Nigeria Customs Service, and other security agencies.

The development comes barely four days after NDLEA operatives raided a Lekki, Lagos State mansion used as stash house, where 4,000 parcels of the same psychoactive substance weighing 2,326 kilograms worth over N5.815 billion were recovered.

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, the NDLEA 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 organised crime and illicit drug trafficking.”

Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, retired Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended the officers of the Tincan Command and MIU of the Agency for their vigilance and professional conduct.

Marwa 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.

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 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.”

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