The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized a shipment of synthetic cannabis, known as ‘loud’, wrapped in a duvet and headed for export to the United Kingdom.
The agency’s Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that the interception took place in the cargo shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.
Femi said that the arrest occurred on January 21, 2025, when NDLEA investigators discovered the consignment, leading to the arrest of two individuals, Adakole Sunday and Austin Balogun.
The psychoactive material was hidden under the duvet in six packages weighing 3.50 kg.
Austin Balogun, the principal agent who employed Adakole, acknowledged in his statement that he was paid N700,000 for the shipment to the United Kingdom.
Balogun disclosed that he utilised a portion of the money for export handling fees and the remainder to rent an apartment.
Two other suspects, Joseph Oluwasegun Adewale and Biodun Adelakun, were taken into custody by NDLEA agents from their den in the Igbo Olumo neighbourhood of Ikorodu, Lagos.
During the operation, seven litres of skuchies, an addictive compound derived from black currant, cannabis, and narcotics, were found.
Three double-barrel rifles, one double-barrel pistol, one English-made handgun, one single-barrel rifle, three cartridges, one empty 9mm cartridge, and one iron-headed axe were among the other goods confiscated.
In a separate operation on January 19, NDLEA police found 25.46 kilogrammes of nitrous oxide, also referred to as laughing gas, a strain of cannabis, and 47 kilogrammes of skunk in the infamous Akala neighbourhood of Mushin, Lagos.
On January 23, Adepoju Taiwo, a 26-year-old suspect in Ekiti State, was taken into custody in the state capital of Ilokun, Ado-Ekiti, along Iworoko Road in possession of 1.950 kilogrammes of Canadian Loud.
Similarly, on January 20, in Bode Saadu, Moro Local Government Area, Kwara State, Auwal Sani, a suspect, was taken into custody.
He was found to have 50,000 Tramadol 225 mg pills total, weighing 36.56 kg.
At Gadar Tamburawa in Kano State, NDLEA agents detained Abubakar Lami, 45, together with Abba Sani, 35, and Auwal Aliyu, 32 and retrieved 125 litres of suck and die, another novel psychoactive substance, and 13.1 kilogrammes of skunk.
Furthermore, a cannabis plantation was found and demolished in the Gefen Kasa neighbourhood of Dawakin Kudu Local Government, which resulted in the 45-year-old Sabo Ali Muhammad being arrested in connection with the farm.
The NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa commended the men and officers of the MMIA, Lagos, Kano, Kwara, and Ekiti Commands for stepping up social advocacy and sensitisation initiatives in their respective jurisdictions.
