NDLEA arrests Canadian at Lagos airport, seizes ₦9bn in opioids

The suspect, Adrienne Munju, was paraded by NDLEA operatives for drug trafficking. Credit: NDLEA
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 41-year-old Canadian lady, Adrienne Munju, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.

She was nabbed on Thursday, October 3 for importing large consignment of ‘Canadian Loud’, a strong strain of synthetic cannabis.

NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, announced the arrest in a statement on Sunday, saying suspect was apprehended during the inward clearance of passengers on KLM airline flight from Canada at the terminal 1 of the Lagos airport.

“During a joint examination of her three bags, 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,” he said.

“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.”

In different operations, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports, Onne, Rivers State 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 ₦9,017,771,000 in street value.

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 and other port stakeholders on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd October 2024.