Nigeria’s anti-narcotics agency has intercepted a massive shipment of imported cannabis valued at more than ₦12.3 billion, marking one of the country’s largest drug seizures this year and underscoring intensifying efforts to disrupt international trafficking networks.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it recovered 4,959 kilograms of Canadian Loud cannabis concealed inside a 40-foot container at Apapa Port in Lagos after an intelligence-led operation that lasted more than four weeks.
According to the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, operatives placed the container under surveillance from the moment it departed Toronto, Canada, on April 25. The shipment subsequently transited through Montreal and Morocco before arriving at Nigeria’s busiest seaport, where it was subjected to a joint examination with the Nigeria Customs Service on June 23.
The container, which also carried Ford and Nissan vehicles, was found to contain the illicit drugs with an estimated street value of ₦12.397 billion.
“The operation demonstrates the effectiveness of intelligence gathering, inter-agency collaboration and sustained surveillance in disrupting transnational drug trafficking networks,” Ibinabo Archie-Abia said.
In a separate operation at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, NDLEA officers arrested 38-year-old businesswoman Iwebema Ogechi Peace while she attempted to board a flight to Beijing, China. Authorities alleged that 7.5 kilograms of cocaine had been concealed inside a specially constructed compartment in her luggage, highlighting increasingly sophisticated smuggling methods employed by traffickers.
The agency also announced the dismantling of a criminal syndicate accused of secretly planting illicit drugs inside passengers’ luggage at interstate motor parks without their knowledge.
The investigation began after NDLEA operatives intercepted a commercial bus travelling from Nnewi to Abuja and recovered 467.7 grams of methamphetamine hidden inside one passenger’s bag. Subsequent investigations led to the arrest of the bus driver and the suspected owner of the narcotics in Abuja, exposing what authorities described as a coordinated operation that exploited unsuspecting travellers as unwitting drug couriers.
The latest operations reinforce the NDLEA’s broader strategy of combining intelligence-driven investigations with coordinated enforcement actions across Nigeria’s ports, airports and road transport corridors. They also reflect growing collaboration between security agencies aimed at disrupting international supply chains and domestic distribution networks as Nigeria strengthens its fight against organised drug trafficking.
NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.) commended the officers involved in the operations and urged personnel nationwide to sustain the agency’s momentum in reducing the supply of illicit narcotics and safeguarding public safety.
