NDLEA arrests Canadian woman at Lagos airport, seizes N9bn worth of opioids

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 41-year-old Canadian woman, Adrienne Munju, at Lagos International Airport for importing a large consignment of ‘Canadian Loud,’ a potent strain of synthetic cannabis.

According to a statement from NDLEA spokesperson Mr. Femi Babafemi, Adrienne was apprehended on 3rd October 2024, during passenger clearance on a KLM flight from Canada. She was found in possession of 74 parcels of the illicit drug, weighing 35.20 kilograms, concealed in two of her three bags.

Adrienne admitted to being recruited online to traffic the drugs for 10,000 Canadian dollars, which she planned to use to pay for her ongoing master’s degree in Canada.

In a related development, NDLEA officers at the Port Harcourt Ports in Rivers State intercepted over 13 million opioid pills and more than 338,000 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup, with a combined street value of over N9 billion.

The illegal substances, smuggled from India, were discovered during a joint examination with Nigerian Customs officers.

At Lagos’ Tincan Seaport, NDLEA operatives also seized 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50 kilograms, concealed in a container with imported vehicles from Canada. The consignment was traced to a warehouse in Ikorodu, where a suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim, was arrested.

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Further arrests were made in Taraba State, where two suspects were caught transporting opioids concealed in a commercial bus, and another individual was caught smuggling 38 kilograms of cannabis hidden in bags of garri.

In Lagos, 700 liters of skuchies, a cocktail of illicit drugs, were recovered, and three suspects were arrested for running cannabis farms at the Edo-Ondo border.

NDLEA also destroyed over 9.9 tons of cannabis across three hectares of farmland and continued its nationwide anti-drug sensitization campaign, targeting schools, religious institutions, workplaces, and communities.

Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd.), NDLEA’s Chairman and CEO, commended the agency’s officers for their dedication to reducing both drug supply and demand.

He emphasized the importance of the agency’s balanced approach in the ongoing fight against drug abuse.