NDLEA seizes 44.9 tonnes in Lagos, Edo and Ondo raids
In a week of raids ending 23 March 2024, NDLEA teams destroyed cannabis warehouses and farms in Ondo and Edo and seized 10,534 kilogrammes in Lagos, counting 44,702.66 kilogrammes of cannabis in an operation the agency put at 44.9 tonnes of drugs overall, with eight arrests and 11 vehicles seized.
In a Sunday statement on 24 March 2024, NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said operatives
had seized more than 44,948.1 kilogrammes of illicit drugs, arrested eight suspects
and seized 11 cartel vehicles in massive raids across Lagos, Edo and Ondo states over
the previous week.[1][2]
In Ondo State, 7,687.8 kilogrammes of cannabis were destroyed in a warehouse in Ala
forest, Akure, with another 670 kilogrammes evacuated on Saturday 23 March.[1][2]In Edo State, 14,310.8625 kilogrammes were razed on 5.7 hectares of farms in
Ohosu-Ugbogui forest in Ovia South West on Tuesday 19 March, where five suspects
aged 37 to 67 were arrested.[1][2]In Uzebba-Avbiosi forest on Thursday 21 March,
over 6,500 kilogrammes were destroyed on 2.6 hectares and three suspects were
arrested.[1][2]A further 5,000 kilogrammes were razed in a warehouse in Okpuje
forest in Owan West with military support on Friday 22 March.[2]
In Lagos, a 20 March operation in Ajah seized 10,534 kilogrammes of Ghanaian Loud, a
cannabis strain, along with the 11 vehicles.[1][2]NDLEA chairman Buba Marwa
commended the Lagos, Edo, Ondo and other commands involved in the week’s seizures.[1]
Photos and video
Bales of cannabis seized in Ajah, Lagos, on 20 March 2024, displayed by the NDLEA Lagos command.Photo details
The agency's 44,948.1 kilogramme weekly total covers all drugs including non-cannabis seizures, so this report counts only the stated cannabis components.
The Uzebba operation figure was given as over 6,500 kilogrammes without an exact weight.
The Kaduna, Borno, Yobe, Kano and FCT operations in the same weekly statement are separate events left out here.
No charges or court dates for the eight arrested suspects were reported.
The Okpuje warehouse burn recorded here is a different event from the January 2023 Opuje operation already in the tracker.
NDLEA operatives stopped a car on the Auchi-Ibillo Road in Akoko Edo, Edo State, and seized 19 bags of cannabis weighing 201 kg in a roundup of cannabis seizures reported on 8 November 2026. The same roundup reported a Benin City drug-joint raid, three arrests at a Taraba checkpoint with 226.255 kg of compressed cannabis, and further raids in Ondo and Lagos.
NDLEA operatives recovered 1,818 kg of cannabis packed in 148 bags in a raid on Odofin Road, Uso, in Ondo State, destroyed a one-hectare cannabis farm in Board Forest and recovered a further 242 kg. Officers arrested 36-year-old Itoro Linus Akpan in operations reported on 8 November 2026.
NDLEA officers found 16.15 kg of Loud cannabis hidden in two wooden sofas from Houston at Lagos airport on 4 November 2026. A freight agent who came to clear the cargo and a caterer who came to collect it were arrested.
NDLEA officers at Lagos airport found 1.20 kilogrammes of cannabis in two of nine parcels hidden in cartons of snacks from the United Kingdom, and arrested a 51-year-old freight agent who came to clear them. The other seven parcels held chemicals for making synthetic cannabis, and a sting in late October 2026 led to a second arrest.