NDLEA intercepts meth, loud worth N3.3bn

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted multi-billion-naira worth of shipments of Methamphetamine and Loud, a strong synthetic strain of cannabis meant for distribution during the Christmas and New Year festive season, concealed in automobile spare parts imported from Canada. Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, […]

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted multi-billion-naira worth of shipments of Methamphetamine and Loud, a strong synthetic strain of cannabis meant for distribution during the Christmas and New Year festive season, concealed in automobile spare parts imported from Canada.

Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said that the interception was carried out at the Tincan Seaport in Lagos after months of intelligence-driven tracking of the cargoes across three continents.

“For the first time in the history of NDLEA’s anti-narcotic operations, two consignments of methamphetamine weighing 83.301kgs were, on Thursday 12th and Friday 13th December 2024, recovered from separate containers bearing vehicles and spare parts coming from Canada and heading to warehouses in the Ladipo automobile parts market in the Mushin area of Lagos.

“While one of the containers going to Ladipo market through the Sifax bonded terminal was examined on Thursday 12th December, not less than 5.001kgs methamphetamine hidden in a bag wrapped in bed sheet that came in a Toyota Camry car, was recovered, even as a businessman, Isaac Onwumere linked with the consignment was promptly arrested,” Babafemi said.

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He said that the other container bearing automobile spare parts checked on Friday was found to contain 1,735 parcels of Loud packed in 44 jumbo bags with a total weight of 867.5kgs and six plastic coolers containing 87 packs of methamphetamine weighing 78.3kgs.

Two businessmen: Nwanolue Emeka and Friday Ogbe have been arrested in connection with the seizures.

The two meth consignments have a N124,951,000; while the 867.5kgs Loud is worth N2,168,750,000 in street value.

The seizures were made during a joint examination of the shipments with Customs and other port stakeholders.

This followed months of intelligence processing and tracking of the consignments from their ports of loading in Canada to the landing port in Lagos by combined Special Operations Units in NDLEA and the Tincan Port Strategic Command of the agency.

The agency said the first container with 5.001kgs meth came under the radar of NDLEA’s intelligence network on October 4, 2024 when the preparation for the shipment began in Toronto, Canada.

It was monitored through October 8 when the shipment was received at the rail ramp, loaded on the rail and departed to Montreal, Canada, where it arrived and was unloaded the following day.

The consignment was further monitored till it was loaded on a vessel on October 19 when the vessel arrived and discharged at Antwerp in Belgium on October 30 after which the consignment was trans-shipped and loaded on November 14 before arriving Lagos port on December 1 and released to a bonded terminal two days after.

The second shipment containing 867.5kgs Loud and 78.3kgs methamphetamine followed the same route.

Meanwhile, at the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers State, no fewer than 636,600 bottles of codeine-based syrup worth N4,456,200,000 in street value were intercepted in shipments from India on Monday 9th, Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th December 2024.

The seizures were made during joint examination of four containers by NDLEA officers, men of Customs and other security agencies at the port following processed credible intelligence on the shipments.

While commending the officers and men of the Special Operations Units, Tincan, and Onne Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) said that the operational successes should show the drug barons and cartels that the agency has the capacity and intelligence network to track their movements and their consignments even before getting to Nigeria and they will continue to lose heavily if they fail to back down on the criminal trade.