Canadian Lady Arrested With Drugs At Lagos Airport As NDLEA Intercepts N9b Worth Opioids In Rivers

By Bukar BOLORI

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, Lagos for importing large consignment of ‘Canadian Loud’, a strong strain of synthetic cannabis into Nigeria.

The suspect was arrested during the inward clearance of passengers on KLM airline flight from Canada at the terminal 1 of the Lagos airport last Thursday.

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 35.2 kilogrammes stuffed in two of her three bags.

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

She confessed the offer was taken because she needed the money to pay for her ongoing master’s degree programme in Canada.

In another arrest, 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
N9 billion in street value.

The spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday, said 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 last Wednesday and Thursday.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos last Thursday intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50 kilogrammes. 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.

Babafemi said though the container had earlier been cleared out of the ESS Libra Bonded Terminal in Ikorodu but 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.

He added that a suspect, Abubakar Ibrahim has already been taken into custody in connection with the seizure.

In Taraba, NDLEA officers last Thursday 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.

Also in Taraba, another suspect, Chibuzor Okafor was arrested at Wukari last Wednesday with 80 blocks of cannabis weighing 38 kilogrammes hidden in bags of garri.

In Lagos, a suspect Bolanle Ajenifuja was last Friday 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 9,966.3 kilogrammes of the substance was destroyed on over three hectares of farmland with 48 kilogrammes of the already processed psychoactive substance recovered.

Babafemi said with the same vigour, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen.Buba Marwa (Rtd), while commending the officers and men of MMIA, Tincan, PHPC, Lagos, Edo, and Taraba commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures, stated that their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated.