The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has seized a massive shipment of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 4,173.5 kilogrammes and valued at ₦10.4bn at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the operation followed extensive intelligence gathering, surveillance and tracking of the container after it departed Toronto, Canada, on March 28.
Babafemi explained that the container was moved through several locations before arriving in Lagos on May 9 via rail transport and multiple vessel transfers.
The statement partly read, “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 kilogrammes, with a street value of Ten Billion Four Hundred and Thirty-Three Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N10, 433, 750,000.00) only at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.”
It added, “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 28th March, 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, 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 the Customs Service and other security agencies.”
The agency disclosed that the drugs were hidden inside a used Ford bus and a Mercedes-Benz C300 vehicle packed within the container.
The seizure came days after NDLEA officers uncovered 4,000 parcels of the same substance weighing 2,326 kilogrammes and worth over ₦5.8bn during a raid on a Lekki mansion allegedly used as a stash house.
Speaking during the handover of the exhibits, NDLEA Director of Seaports Operations, Ibinabo Archie-Abia, described the operation as evidence of effective intelligence-sharing and inter-agency cooperation against organised transnational crime.
Reacting to the seizure, NDLEA Chairman Mohamed Marwa praised officers of the Tincan Command and Marine Intelligence Unit for their efforts, noting that the latest discoveries revealed attempts by international drug cartels to flood Nigeria with synthetic cannabis products.
“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 Royal Canadian 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.