A 41-year-old Canadian woman, Adrienne Munju, has been apprehended by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. She was caught attempting to smuggle 35.20 kilograms of synthetic cannabis.
Munju was arrested on October 3, 2024, during the inward clearance of passengers arriving on a KLM flight from Canada. The illicit substance was discovered in two out of her three pieces of luggage, carefully concealed in 74 parcels.
The NDLEA disclosed the details of the arrest in an official statement released by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, which was posted on their website on Sunday.
“A 41-year-old Canadian lady, Adrienne Munju, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos, for importing a large consignment of ‘Canadian Loud’, a potent strain of synthetic cannabis,” the statement read in part.
The statement further elaborated, “During a joint examination of her three bags, Adrienne, who was visiting Nigeria for the first time, was found with 74 parcels of the illicit substance weighing 35.20 kilograms, hidden in two of her three bags.”
Additionally, the NDLEA revealed that Munju confessed to being recruited online and was promised CAD 10,000 for successfully transporting the drugs to Lagos. She intended to use the money to pay for her master’s degree tuition.
Wider Seizures by NDLEA
The NDLEA also highlighted other significant drug seizures in their statement. On October 2 and 3, 2024, operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports in Onne, Rivers State, intercepted 13,298,000 opioid pills, including Tramadol, Tramaking Quick Action Tramadol, Tamol-X, Royal Tapentadol, and Carisoprodol, alongside 338,253 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup. The total value of these seized substances was estimated at over N9.01 billion.
These items were recovered from three containers that had arrived from India during a joint examination conducted with Nigerian Customs and other port stakeholders.
On the same day, NDLEA officials at the Tincan Seaport in Lagos intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50 kilograms. The drugs were concealed within a container of imported vehicles from Canada, and they were traced to a warehouse in Ikorodu.
In Taraba State, NDLEA officers stopped a commercial bus traveling from Onitsha to Jalingo on October 3, recovering opioids such as Tramadol, Rohypnol, and codeine-based syrup, which had been hidden inside the vehicle. Two suspects, Pako Thomas and Emmanuel Anyigor, were arrested, while a third suspect, Chibuzor Okafor, was apprehended on October 2 in Wukari with 38 kilograms of cannabis concealed in bags of garri.
In Lagos, on October 4, officers arrested Bolanle Ajenifuja with 700 liters of “skuchies,” a cocktail of illicit drugs. In addition, three suspects—Ezekiel Akpele, Elijah Michael, and Goddard John—were arrested for running cannabis farms located in a border community between Edo and Ondo States, where NDLEA officers destroyed approximately 9,966 kilograms of cannabis across three hectares.
