LAGOS, Nigeria — A 41-year-old Canadian woman, Adrienne Munju, was arrested at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for importing a significant quantity of synthetic cannabis known as ‘Canadian Loud.’
The arrest occurred on October 3, 2024, during the inward clearance of passengers from a KLM flight departing Canada.
NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, in a statement released on Sunday, October 6, 2024, said Adrienne, on her first trip to Nigeria, was caught with 74 parcels of the synthetic cannabis weighing 35.20 kilograms, concealed in two of her three bags during a joint examination by law enforcement officers.
In her statement, the suspect reportedly admitted that she had been recruited to traffic the consignment through an online platform and was promised 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery in Lagos.
She claimed she accepted the offer to help fund her ongoing master’s degree in Canada.
In a separate operation, Babafemi reported that the NDLEA had recovered a massive quantity of opioids, including Tramadol, Royal Tapentadol, and Carisoprodol, worth over N9 billion.
The seizure was made at the Port Harcourt Ports in Rivers State, where three containers arriving from India were searched during a joint examination with Nigerian Customs and other stakeholders on October 2 and 3.
The consignment contained 13,298,000 pills of opioids and 338,253 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup.
The NDLEA also intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50kg at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on October 3.
The consignment, hidden in five jumbo bags inside a container of imported vehicles from Canada, was traced to a warehouse in Ikorodu, Lagos.
A suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim, was arrested in connection with the discovery.
In another operation, NDLEA officers in Taraba State intercepted a commercial bus carrying 80 blocks of cannabis weighing 38kg, hidden in bags of garri.
The vehicle was traveling from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Jalingo.
Two suspects, Pako Thomas and Emmanuel Anyigor, were arrested, and additional quantities of opioids, including Tramadol and Rohypnol, were recovered.
The NDLEA further reported the arrest of a suspect, Bolanle Ajenifuja, in Ojo, Lagos, on October 4, who was found with 700 litres of a concoction known as skuchies, a mix of local chapman and illicit drugs.
Three accomplices—Ezekiel Akpele, Elijah Michael, and Goddard John—were also arrested.
Additionally, NDLEA operatives raided two cannabis farms located in a boundary community between Edo and Ondo states on October 4, destroying over 9,966kg of the substance across three hectares of farmland.
A further 48kg of processed cannabis was recovered.
These arrests and seizures reflect the NDLEA’s ongoing efforts to curb the trafficking and distribution of illicit drugs in Nigeria.
