Nearly seven decades after newspapers first began reporting concerns over Indian hemp in Nigeria, the country’s anti-narcotics agency is still confronting an evolving drug trade. It has now shifted from locally cultivated cannabis to sophisticated international trafficking networks spanning Asia and Europe.

In its latest nationwide operations, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intercepted cocaine concealed inside the base of a locally made mortar destined for China and another shipment hidden in the false bottom of a backpack bound for Italy. In separate operations, operatives arrested a suspected drug dealer in Rivers State with cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, tramadol and codeine syrup. They also intercepted a truck carrying 26,000 bottles of codeine syrup in Anambra State, and seized 7,400 tramadol tablets believed to be intended for criminal elements in Zamfara.

While the methods have become more sophisticated, historians note that Nigeria’s encounter with illicit narcotics stretches back much further than the NDLEA.

On 14 Oct 1968, local newspapers reported that hemp is linked to wartime crime. This event occurs during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). Social disruption, the presence of soldiers, and the breakdown of law and order led to increased crime rates. Authorities frequently blamed drug use for fueling violent crime during this turbulent period.

Historical further records show that by the late 1950s, medical researchers and newspapers were already documenting concerns surrounding Indian hemp. This was the term then commonly used for cannabis. Early reports focused largely on public health, mental illness associated with heavy cannabis use and isolated criminal prosecutions, reflecting what would become Nigeria’s first major illicit drug challenge.

Throughout the 1960s, newspaper reports increasingly chronicled police raids on cannabis farms, court prosecutions and seizures as authorities sought to curb cultivation and distribution. The issue gained further prominence during the late 1960s, when reports occasionally linked cannabis abuse to rising concerns over violent crime and wartime disorder, although such associations often reflected the public anxieties of the period rather than conclusive evidence.

By the late 1970s, Nigeria’s drug landscape had begun to change. As international air travel expanded and global trafficking routes shifted, newspapers increasingly reported arrests involving cocaine and heroin couriers. This further signaled the country’s emergence as a transit point in the international narcotics trade.

The contrast between those earlier decades and today’s seizures highlights how illicit drug trafficking has evolved. Where authorities once concentrated primarily on cannabis farms and local distribution networks, enforcement agencies now contend with concealed export consignments, synthetic drugs, pharmaceutical abuse and transnational criminal organisations using Nigeria as part of global supply chains.

Security experts say the progression underscores an enduring reality: as enforcement techniques improve, trafficking networks continually adapt, employing increasingly ingenious concealment methods and exploiting international logistics systems to move illicit substances across borders.

The latest NDLEA operations therefore represent not just isolated arrests, but another chapter in a long-running campaign against narcotics, one that has transformed dramatically since the first reports of Indian hemp began appearing in Nigeria’s public discourse more than half a century ago.