Lagos, May 7, 2023 -The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized 8,852 kilograms (8.8 tons) of Canadian Loud, an imported synthetic strain of cannabis, at the Eleko Beach Road in Lekki area of Lagos State.
The NDLEA said that the seizure was made after a 30-minute gunfight with armed men who were escorting the consignment in two long trucks.
Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA Spokesperson, said in a statement on Sunday that, acting on credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives had laid ambush for the traffickers along the Eleko Beach Road in Lekki.
He said that at about 4:51am on Thursday, May 4, 2023, two long trucks conveying the illicit consignments were flagged down, but rather than stop, the trucks escorted by the armed men sped off, as a result of which there was an exchange of gunfire that lasted 30 minutes.
Babafemi said after they were overpowered by the NDLEA operatives, the truck drivers and their armed escorts escaped into the bush abandoning the trucks and the drug consignments.
He said one of the trucks, painted red, had 149 jumbo bags of the consignments weighing 6,548kg, the second one with blue colour had 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.
Babafemi said the operatives were already on the trail of the drug lord who shipped the illicit consignment into the country.
He said the NDLEA operatives, on the same day, also intercepted a Toyota Sienna vehicle, driven by one Mukaila Idowu, conveying 88.3kg skunk at Otedola Bridge in Ikeja area of Lagos, while another suspect, Joseph Friday, was arrested on Saturday, May 6 at Iyana Ira, Lagos with 58.7kg cannabis sativa concealed inside his Toyota Camry car marked FST 587FH. (GBN)
