Canadian lady arrested for drug trafficking in Lagos

Abdullateef Fowewe

The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a 41-year-old Canadian lady, Adrienne Munju, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos for importing a large consignment of ‘Canadian Loud’, a strong strain of synthetic cannabis.

NDLEA stated that the suspect 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.

NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Babafemi said Adrienne, who was coming to Nigeria for the first time, was found with 74 parcels of the illicit substance weighing 35.20 kilograms stuffed in two of her three bags during a joint examination of her three bags.

In her statement, the suspect claimed she was recruited to traffic the consignment through an online platform for 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery in Lagos.

Adrienne also explained that she took the offer because she needed the money to pay for her ongoing master’s degree programme in Canada.

In the same vein, NDLEA said its operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports, Onne, Rivers state have intercepted 13,298,000 pills of opioids including Tramadol, Tramaking Quick Action Tramadol, Tamol-X, Royal Tapentadol and Carisoprodol as well as 338, 253 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup, all worth over N9 billion in street value.

The anti-narcotic agency announced that the opioids were recovered in three containers coming from India, targeted by the NDLEA during a 100 per cent joint examination of the cargoes with men of the Nigerian Customs and other port stakeholders on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday, October 3, 2024.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Thursday, October 3, disclosed they intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50kg.

The statement reads partly, “The consignment was packed in 20 parcels each in five jumbo bags concealed in a container with four units of imported vehicles that came from Canada.

“Though the container had earlier been cleared out of the ESS Libra Bonded Terminal in Ikorodu based on credible intelligence, 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.

“In Taraba, NDLEA officers on Thursday 3rd October intercepted a commercial bus marked JAL 198 YQ coming from Onitsha, Anambra state to Jalingo. Large quantities of opioids: tramadol, rohypnol and codeine-based syrup concealed in body compartments of the vehicle were recovered when it was searched, while two suspects: Pako Thomas and Emmanuel Anyigor were arrested. Another suspect, Chibuzor Okafor was arrested at Wukari on Wednesday 2nd October with 80 blocks of cannabis weighing 38kg hidden in bags of garri.

“In Lagos, a suspect Bolanle Ajenifuja was on Friday 4th October arrested at Afo – Media area of Ojo where 700 litres of skuchies, a mixture of local chapman and cocktail of illicit drugs were recovered from her, while three suspects: Ezekiel Akpele; Elijah Michael; and Goddard John, were nabbed same day when NDLEA operatives raided two cannabis farms located at bridge camp, a boundary community between Edo and Ondo states. Not less than 9,966.332kg of the substance was destroyed on over three hectares of farmland with 48kg of the already processed psychoactive substance recovered.”

Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) commended the officers and men of MMIA, Tincan, PHPC, Lagos, Edo, and Taraba Commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures.