A 41-year-old Canadian woman named Adrienne Munju was apprehended by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos for attempting to smuggle a significant quantity of synthetic cannabis, known as “Canadian Loud.”
Munju was arrested on October 3, 2024, during the arrival inspection of passengers from a KLM flight from Canada at Terminal 1 of the Lagos airport.
According to a statement released by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, a search of Munju’s three bags revealed 74 parcels of synthetic cannabis, weighing a total of 35.20 kilograms, hidden in two of her bags. Munju, who was visiting Nigeria for the first time, claimed she had been recruited online to traffic the drugs for $10,000 Canadian dollars, which she needed to fund her ongoing master’s degree program in Canada.
Additionally, Babafemi reported that 13,298,000 opioid pills, including Tramadol, Tramaking Quick Action Tramadol, Tamol-X, Royal Tapentadol, and Carisoprodol, along with 338,253 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup valued at over N9 billion, were seized at the Onne Port in Rivers State. The drugs were discovered in three containers originating from India during a thorough inspection by NDLEA officials, Nigerian Customs, and other stakeholders on October 2 and 3, 2024.
At Lagos’ Tincan seaport, 100 parcels of “Canadian Loud” weighing 50 kilograms were intercepted on October 3. These parcels were concealed in five jumbo bags inside a container that also held four imported vehicles from Canada. NDLEA agents were able to track the container to a warehouse in Ikorodu, where the drugs were found hidden in a Toyota Sienna van. A suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim, was arrested in connection with the discovery.
In a separate incident in Taraba State, NDLEA officers stopped a commercial bus traveling from Onitsha, Anambra State, to Jalingo on October 3. Upon searching the bus, 80 blocks of cannabis weighing 38 kilograms were found hidden in bags of garri. Two suspects, Pako Thomas and Emmanuel Anyigor, were arrested, and another individual, Chibuzor Okafor, was detained on October 2 in Wukari for attempting to transport the same quantity of cannabis.
Further enforcement actions on October 4 led to the arrest of Bolanle Ajenifuja in Ojo, Lagos, where 700 liters of “skuchies,” a mixture of local chapman and illegal drugs, were confiscated. Three more suspects, Ezekiel Akpele, Elijah Michael, and Goddard John, were also detained in connection with the incident. Additionally, NDLEA agents raided two cannabis farms on the border of Edo and Ondo states, destroying over 9,966 kilograms of cannabis spread across three hectares of land. They also seized 48 kilograms of processed cannabis.
