Adrienne Munju, a 41-year-old Canadian woman arrested by National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives at Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport for importing a large consignment of a strong strain of synthetic cannabis known as ‘Canadian Loud’, has explained why she committed the crime.
Munju was arrested during the inward clearance of passengers on a KLM Airline flight from Canada at Terminal 1 of the Lagos airport on Thursday, October 3, 2024.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, Adrienne, who was visiting Nigeria for the first time, was discovered with 74 packets of the illicit material totalling 35.20 kilogrammes stuffed in two of her three suitcases.
“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 program in Canada,” Babafemi added.
Babafemi further stated that 13,298,000 opioid pills, including Tramadol, Tramaking Quick Action Tramadol, Tamol-X, Royal Tapentadol, and Carisoprodol, as well as 338,253 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup valued over N9,017,771,000, were discovered at the Port Harcourt Ports Onne in Rivers State.
He added, “The opioids were recovered in three containers coming from India, targeted by the NDLEA during a 100% joint examination of the cargoes with men of the Nigerian Customs Service and other port stakeholders on October 2 and 3, 2024.“
Similarly, on October 3, Babafemi reported that 100 boxes of Canadian Loud totalling 50 kg were intercepted at the Tin Can Seaport in Lagos.
He stated that the package was bundled in 20 parcels, each in five giant bags, and placed in a container with four imported autos from Canada.
He said, “Though the container had earlier been cleared out of the ESS Libra Bonded Terminal in Ikorodu based on credible intelligence, the NDLEA operatives were able to trace it to a warehouse in Ikorodu where the illicit consignments were discovered in one of the imported vehicles, a Toyota Sienna bus.
“A suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim, has already been taken into custody in connection with the seizure.”
