NDLEA seizes 8, 852kg cannabis following gunfight in Lagos

At Eleko Road in the Lekki neighbourhood of Lagos, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency recovered 8,852 kg of Canadian loud, an imported synthetic variety of cannabis.

This was revealed in a statement released on Sunday by Femi Babafemi, the director of media and advocacy at NDLEA.

He said that the seizure was accomplished during a 30-minute gunfight between agency agents and the armed individuals guarding the illegal substances.

He claims that on Thursday, the CIA set up an ambush for the traffickers transferring the consignment piled into two trucks based on intelligence.

Babafemi said, “When the suspects who were escorted by armed men were flagged down, rather than stop, they escaped and abandoned the drugs. But they were later overpowered by the operatives in an exchange of gunfire that lasted 30 minutes.

“While one of the trucks painted red has 149 jumbo bags weighing 6,548kg, the second one with blue colour has 53 big bags with a weight of 2,304kg, bringing the total number of bags to 202 and gross weight of both to 8,852 kilograms. Meanwhile, operatives are already on the trail of the drug lord who shipped the illicit consignment into the country.”

According to him, on the same day, NDLEA agents stopped a Toyota Sienna driven by Mukaila Idowu at the Otedola Bridge carrying 88.3 kg of skunk, and on the following day, Joseph Friday was detained at lyana Ira in Lagos with 58.7 kg of cannabis sativa hidden inside his Toyota Camry with the license plate FST 587FH.

“Meanwhile, NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation, attached to courier firms, intercepted blocks of compressed brown methamphetamine packaged as soap bars weighing 1.54 kilograms going to Australia.

“The seizure at a courier house in Lagos on Tuesday, May 2, was a follow-up operation to an earlier interception of 3.389kg of the same substance on February 23, 2023. A suspected drug courier, Paul Adetigbe who delivered the previous parcel was eventually arrested with the latest consignment,” Babafemi said.

He further mentioned that between May 3 and May 5, the agency made drug recoveries and arrested several individuals in the states of Ogun, Adamawa, Edo, Anambra, and Kogi.

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