The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has urged parents and guardians to be vigilant about the snacks their children consume, warning that traffickers are now concealing illicit drugs in cookies and gummies.
NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, issued the warning in a statement on Sunday. He said recent seizures showed a new trend of disguising prohibited substances as regular confectionery.
“As parents, if your kids and young ones always crave cookies and gummies, you may have to pay a little more attention. There may be more to it than ordinary cookies and gummies,” Babafemi stated, while sharing photos of seized items.
The images showed brightly coloured pouches of “Cookies Delta 8 Gummies” in flavours like Hawaiian Rain Pineapple Guava and Thai Mango, labelled as vegan and hemp-derived.
The alert followed a major interception by the Nigeria Customs Service at Tin Can Island Port, Lagos. Officers uncovered two 40-foot containers with cannabis-infused products hidden among used vehicles, generators, batteries and fabrics.
The haul included thousands of Delta-8 cannabis pre-roll cookies, packs of cannabis-infused gummies and cookies, with an estimated street value of ₦373.8 million. The consignment, which originated from the United States, was handed over to the NDLEA.
Officials described the products as an emerging public health threat, noting that the attractive packaging and candy-like appearance could lure children, students and young people, increasing the risk of accidental ingestion of concentrated cannabis.
