NDLEA Seizes 4,959 kg of Canadian Cannabis at Lagos Port

Nigerian drug enforcement officers intercepted a 40-foot container holding 4,959 kilograms of Canadian Loud cannabis at the Apapa Port Complex in Lagos on June 23. The shipment, valued at an estimated N12.397 billion, was discovered during a joint examination involving NDLEA Apapa Strategic Command personnel, Nigeria Customs Service officers, and other port agencies.

NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said the cannabis had been concealed in 195 large sacks inside a container that also carried a Ford and a Nissan vehicle.

The container left Toronto by truck on April 25, moved by rail to Montreal on April 29, and was shipped through Tanger Med, Morocco, on May 11 before arriving at Tin Can Port in Lagos on June 4. It was discharged the next day and transferred to Apapa Port on June 22, where officers seized it the following day after four weeks of surveillance across multiple countries.

21, NDLEA operatives arrested 38-year-old businesswoman Iwebema Ogechi Peace at Terminal 2 of Murtala Muhammed International Airport while she prepared to board a Qatar Airways flight to Beijing. A search of her checked luggage revealed 7.5 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a false compartment.

NDLEA officers also dismantled a drug trafficking syndicate that placed methamphetamine in the luggage of unsuspecting interstate passengers. The operation began on June 20 when officers stopped a commercial bus traveling from Nnewi to Abuja at Abaji and recovered 467.7 grams of suspected methamphetamine.

Investigators later arrested the intended recipient, Mrs. Gloria Peter, at Utako Motor Park in Abuja, and the alleged owner of the consignment, Onyebuchi Victor Okoye, in Abuja. The driver, Abdurrazak Isah, and a loader in Nnewi were also questioned as part of the ongoing investigation.