The Lagos State Police Command has uncovered a suspected indoor cannabis farm operating inside a residential building in the Apapa area of the state.
A viral video showed what appeared to be an ordinary apartment allegedly converted into a facility for cultivating cannabis indoors.
The plants were reportedly expected to mature within approximately three months before being harvested and distributed through the illicit drug market.
The operation was allegedly linked to a foreign national, said to have been trafficked into Nigeria, and a Nigerian man who managed the property where the farm was discovered.
The property manager, whose identity was withheld, claimed he offered assistance to the foreigner after the company that brought him into the country allegedly abandoned him.
He maintained that he did not intend to make any financial gains from the operation, explaining that his involvement was motivated by a desire to help the foreigner return to his home country.
According to him, the foreign national later introduced the idea of cultivating cannabis, which he said he reluctantly allowed without anticipating the consequences.
The property manager admitted knowing that the activity was not authorised by the government but claimed the operation was exposed when an attempt was made to sell the harvested cannabis.
Reacting to the discovery, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Tijani Fatai, described the operation as another achievement in the Command’s efforts to tackle drug abuse and trafficking.
Fatai expressed surprise at the discovery, noting that the cannabis plants were being cultivated in cups before being harvested for distribution into society.
He urged residents to pay attention to activities within their neighbourhoods and remain vigilant about the occupations and suspicious activities of people living around them.
The police said investigations were ongoing as the Command intensified efforts to curb the cultivation, sale and distribution of illicit drugs across the state.
