Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 41-year-old Canadian woman, Adrienne Munju, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, for importing a large quantity of synthetic cannabis known as ‘Canadian Loud.’
The suspect was apprehended during the inward clearance of passengers arriving from Canada on a KLM Airline flight on Thursday, October 3, 2024.
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A statement by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi revealed that Adrienne Munju, on her first visit to Nigeria, was found in possession of 74 parcels of the drug weighing 35.20 kilograms. The parcels were concealed in two of her three bags.
“In her statement, she claimed she was recruited to traffic the consignment through an online platform for 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery in Lagos. She said she took the offer because she needed the money to pay for her ongoing Master’s degree programme in Canada,” Babafemi said.
Further drug interceptions by the NDLEA occurred in Port Harcourt and Lagos, where large quantities of opioids and synthetic cannabis were seized. In Port Harcourt, 13,298,000 pills of various opioids, including Tramadol and codeine-based cough syrup, valued at over N9 billion were recovered from three containers arriving from India. Babafemi disclosed that the operation took place during a 100% joint examination with the Nigerian Customs Service and other stakeholders on October 2 and 3, 2024.
At the Tin Can Seaport in Lagos, the agency intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50kg. The parcels were hidden in a container along with four imported vehicles from Canada. The NDLEA traced the container to a warehouse in Ikorodu, where the drugs were found inside a Toyota Sienna. A suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
In another operation, NDLEA officers intercepted a commercial bus in Taraba State carrying 80 blocks of cannabis concealed in bags of garri. Two suspects, Pako Thomas and Emmanuel Anyigor, were arrested in connection with the drugs. Another individual, Chibuzor Okafor, was arrested on October 2, 2024, with 38kg of cannabis in Wukari.
Additionally, on October 3, 2024, officers seized 700 litres of a substance known as skuchies, a mixture of local Chapman and illicit drugs. Three suspects, Ezekiel Akpele, Elijah Michael, and Goddard John, were arrested in connection with the seizure. The same day, the NDLEA destroyed over three hectares of cannabis farms at Bridge Camp, a boundary between Edo and Ondo states, recovering 48kg of processed psychoactive substances.
