May 13, (THEWILL) — Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted a massive consignment of Canadian Loud, a high-potency synthetic strain of cannabis, valued at over ₦10.4 billion at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos, in another major breakthrough against transnational drug trafficking syndicates.
A statement signed on Wednesday by the agency Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, stated that the the illicit consignment, weighing 4,173.5 kilograms and estimated at a street value of ₦10,433,750,000, was discovered concealed inside a used Ford bus and a Mercedes-Benz C300 car stashed within a shipping container that arrived in Nigeria from Canada.
According to the agency, the successful operation followed months of painstaking intelligence gathering, sustained surveillance and coordinated tracking of the shipment across multiple international transit points before its eventual interception in Lagos.
The NDLEA disclosed that the container departed Toronto, Canada, on March 28, 2026, and was then transported by rail to Montreal, where it was loaded onto the Jakarta Express vessel. The shipment later arrived at Tanger Med Port in Morocco on April 15, where it was discharged and reloaded onto another vessel, Osaka Voyage, which eventually berthed at the Lagos Port on Saturday, May 9, 2026.
The anti-narcotics agency said the operation was carried out through the combined efforts of its Marine Intelligence Unit and the Tincan Island Strategic Command in collaboration with international partners, including the United Kingdom Home Office International Operations, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The consignment was eventually seized on Tuesday, May 12, during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA operatives, officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies at the port.
The latest seizure comes barely four days after NDLEA operatives raided a mansion in the Lekki area of Lagos, allegedly used as a drug stash house, where 4,000 parcels of the same psychoactive substance weighing 2,326 kilograms and valued at over ₦5.8 billion were recovered.
Speaking during the formal handover of the seized exhibits by the Nigeria Customs Service on Wednesday, the NDLEA Director of Seaports Operations, ACG Ibinabo ArchieAbia, described the operation as another demonstration of the effectiveness of inter-agency collaboration and intelligence-driven enforcement.
She said the seizure highlighted the growing success of partnerships among local and international law enforcement agencies in disrupting organised criminal networks engaged in illicit drug trafficking.
Reacting to the development, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa, commended officers attached to the Tincan Command and the Marine Intelligence Unit for their professionalism, vigilance and commitment.
Marwa noted that the recent wave of large-scale Canadian Loud seizures suggested a coordinated effort by international drug syndicates to flood the Nigerian market with dangerous 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 Canadian Royal Mounted Police, the UK-HOIO and the US DEA is yielding fantastic results”, Marwa stated.
He added that the agency would sustain its crackdown on traffickers and ensure that all individuals linked to the shipments are identified and prosecuted.
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