NDLEA Seizes ₦3.3bn Worth of Meth and Loud Concealed in Auto Parts from Canada

The NDLEA intercepts ₦3.3 billion worth of methamphetamine and loud, hidden in auto parts shipments from Canada, as part of its intensified efforts to combat drug trafficking in Nigeria.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) announced that its officers have seized shipments of methamphetamine and “Loud” valued in the billions of naira. These drugs were hidden within automobile spare parts imported from Canada at the Tincan seaport in Lagos.

In a statement released on Sunday, NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi revealed that the drugs were meant for distribution during the Christmas and New Year festive season.

He disclosed that the shipments were confiscated after months of intelligence-driven tracking across three continents.

According to the statement, operatives of the NDLEA have intercepted multi-billion-naira shipments of methamphetamine and Loud— a potent synthetic strain of cannabis— at Lagos’ Tincan Seaport. These substances were hidden in automobile spare parts imported from Canada and were meant for distribution during the Christmas and New Year festive season. The interception followed months of intelligence-driven tracking across three continents.

Babafemi mentioned that this marks the first occasion on which the agency has recovered two consignments of methamphetamine, with a combined weight of 83.301 kilograms.

He stated that the shipments were intended for warehouses at the Ladipo automobile parts market in Lagos’s Mushin area, emphasizing that two businessmen, Nwanolue Emeka and Friday Ogbe, had been arrested in relation to the seizure.

On Friday, December 13th, the inspection of another container filled with automobile spare parts revealed it contained 1,735 parcels of Loud packed into 44 large bags weighing a total of 867.5kg and six plastic coolers holding 87 packs of methamphetamine totaling 78.3kg in weight. At least two businessmen—Nwanolue Emeka and Friday Ogbe—have been arrested in connection with this seizure.

The two meth consignments together weigh 83.301 kg and are valued at ₦124,951,000 (One Hundred Twenty-Four Million Nine Hundred Fifty-One Thousand Naira), while the 867.5 kg of Loud has a street value of ₦2,168,750,000 (Two Billion One Hundred Sixty-Eight Million Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Naira).

The seizures occurred during a collaborative inspection of the shipments involving Customs and other port stakeholders. This action came after months of intelligence analysis and monitoring, tracking the consignments from their loading ports in Canada to Lagos’s landing port by combined Special Operations Units within NDLEA and the Agency’s Tincan Port Strategic Command.

On October 4, 2024, the NDLEA’s intelligence network detected a container carrying 5.001kg of meth when preparations for its shipment began in Toronto, Canada. Monitoring continued until October 8 when the shipment was received at the rail ramp, loaded onto a train and departed to Montreal. It arrived there on October 9 and was unloaded that same day.

“The statement explained that the consignment continued to be monitored until it was loaded onto a vessel on October 19th. The vessel arrived in Antwerp, Belgium, and discharged its cargo on October 30th. Subsequently, the consignment was trans-shipped and reloaded onto another ship on November 14th before arriving at Lagos port on December 1st and being released to a bonded terminal two days later.”