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, at the Tincan seaport in Lagos.
The anti-narcotics agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, said the consignment which was meant for distribution during the Christmas and New Year festive season was concealed in automobile spare parts imported from Canada, and intercepted after months of intelligence-driven tracking of the cargoes across three continents.
According to Babafemi, the interception of two consignments of methamphetamine weighing 83.301 kilograms recovered on Thursday 12th and Friday 13th December 2024, from separate containers bearing vehicles and spare parts coming from Canada, is the first of its kind in the history of NDLEA’s anti-narcotic operations. The containers were said to be heading to warehouses in the Ladipo automobile parts market in Mushin area of Lagos.
Upon examination of one of the containers going to Ladipo market through the Sifax bonded terminal, not less than 5.001kg methamphetamine was recovered, hidden in a bag wrapped in bed sheet that came in a Toyota Camry car. A businessman, Isaac Onwumere, linked with the consignment, was promptly arrested.
The other container bearing automobile spare parts, and checked on Friday 13th December, was found to contain 1, 735 parcels of Loud packed in 44 jumbo bags with a total weight of 867.5kg and six plastic coolers containing 87 packs of methamphetamine weighing 78.3kg. So far, two businessmen, Nwanolue Emeka and Friday Ogbe have been arrested in connection with the seizure.
“The two meth consignments have a combined weight of 83.301kg worth One Hundred and Twenty-Four Million Nine Hundred and Fifty-One Thousand Naira (124,951,000.00) while the 867.5kg Loud is worth Two Billion One Hundred and Sixty-Eight Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N2,168,750,000.00) in street value”, Babafemi stated, adding that the seizures were made during a joint examination of the shipments with Customs and other port stakeholders, following 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 NDLEA spokesman said the first container with 5.001kg meth came under the radar of NDLEA’s intelligence network on 4th October 2024 when the preparation for the shipment began in Toronto, Canada, monitored through 8th October 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 9th October.
The consignment was further monitored till it was loaded on a vessel on 19th October through when the vessel arrived and discharged at Antwerp in Belgium on 30th October after which the consignment was trans-shipped and loaded on 14th November before arriving Lagos port on 1st December and released to a bonded terminal two days after.
The second shipment containing 867.5kg Loud and 78.3kg methamphetamine followed the same route. It came under NDLEA’s intelligence tracking on 8th October 2024 when the consignments were delivered to the shipper in Toronto, Canada, loaded on the rail on 14th October and arrived Montreal the following day, 15th, after which they were loaded on a vessel to Europe on 20th October. After arrival and trans-shipment at Antwerp in Belgium on 6th and 17th November respectively, the consignments were tracked till they arrived and discharged from the vessel at Lagos port on 6th December before being moved to the terminal on 10th December.
At the Port Harcourt Port Complex, Onne, Rivers state, no fewer than Six Hundred and Thirty-Six Thousand, Six Hundred (636,600) bottles of codeine-based syrup worth Four Billion Four Hundred and Fifty-Six Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N4,456,200,000.00) 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) stated 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.
“They will continue to lose heavily if they fail to back down on the criminal trade”, Marwa warned.
