Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a 40-foot container loaded with 4,959 kilograms of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, with an estimated street value of N12.397 billion, following a four-week surveillance operation spanning multiple countries.
The seizure was made on June 23 during a joint examination of the shipment at the Apapa Port Complex in Lagos by officers of the NDLEA Apapa Strategic Command, the Nigeria Customs Service, other security agencies and port stakeholders.
According to NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the illicit consignment was concealed in 195 large sacks inside a container that also carried a Ford and a Nissan vehicle.
Babafemi said the agency tracked the shipment from Toronto, Canada, where it departed by truck on April 25, before moving by rail to Montreal on April 29. It was later shipped through Tanger Med, Morocco, on May 11, loaded onto another vessel on May 23 and arrived at the Tin Can Port in Lagos on June 4. The container was discharged on June 5 before being transferred to Apapa Port on June 22, where it was intercepted the following day.
In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives arrested a 38-year-old businesswoman, Iwebema Ogechi Peace, at the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, while she was preparing to board a Qatar Airways flight to Beijing, China.
Babafemi said the suspect, who claimed she travelled regularly to China to purchase goods for sale in Nigeria, was arrested on June 21 based on credible intelligence.
A search of her checked luggage led to the discovery of 7.5 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a professionally constructed false compartment at the bottom of the suitcase.
The agency also uncovered a drug trafficking syndicate that allegedly plants illicit drugs in the luggage of unsuspecting interstate passengers.
Babafemi said the syndicate was exposed during a joint operation involving NDLEA operatives in the Federal Capital Territory and Anambra State after officers intercepted a Sienna commercial bus travelling from Nnewi to Abuja at Abaji on June 20.
During a search of the vehicle, operatives recovered a waybill package containing substances suspected to be methamphetamine concealed inside a black nylon bag, which had been hidden in another passenger’s sack of clothes bearing the receiver’s phone number.
A follow-up operation led to the arrest of the intended recipient, Mrs. Gloria Peter, at Utako Motor Park in Abuja.
According to Babafemi, she denied ownership or knowledge of the drug package, prompting investigators to interrogate the vehicle loaders in Nnewi.
“The investigation revealed that one of the loaders admitted placing the drug package in the woman’s bag on the instruction of the driver, Abdurrazak Isah. The driver subsequently identified one of his passengers, Onyebuchi Victor Okoye, as the actual owner of the consignment,” Babafemi said.
The alleged owner of the drugs was later arrested in Abuja during a follow-up operation.
The recovered methamphetamine weighed 467.7 grams, while investigations into the activities of the syndicate are ongoing.