Intercepts N9b opioid pills hidden in shipping containers

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 41-year-old Canadian woman, Adrienne Munju, at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos. She was apprehended for importing a large consignment of ‘Canadian Loud’, a strong strain of synthetic cannabis.

The spokesperson for the anti-drug agency, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement yesterday that the suspect was arrested on Thursday, October 3, during the inward clearance of passengers on a KLM airline flight from Canada at Terminal 1 of the Lagos airport.

He stressed that during a joint examination of her three bags, Munju, who was coming to Nigeria for the first time, was found with 74 parcels of the illicit substance weighing 35.20kg stuffed in two of her three bags. She claimed she was recruited to traffic the consignment through an online platform for 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery in Lagos.

The suspect said she took the offer because she needed the money to pay for her ongoing master’s degree programme in Canada. Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports, Onne, Rivers State, intercepted about 13.2 million 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 about N9.01 billion in street value.

The opioids were recovered in three containers coming from India, targeted by the NDLEA during a 100 per cent joint examination of the cargoes with officers from the Nigerian Customs and other port stakeholders on Wednesday, October 2, and Thursday, October 3, 2024.

Similarly, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Thursday, October 3, intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50kg. The consignment was packed in 20 parcels, each in five jumbo bags, and concealed in a container with four units of imported vehicles from Canada.

Although the container had earlier been cleared out of the ESS Libra Bonded Terminal in Ikorodu, 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.

A suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim, has been taken into custody regarding the seizure. In Taraba State, NDLEA officers intercepted a commercial bus marked JAL 198 YQ on Thursday, October 3, 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.

Another suspect, Chibuzor Okafor, was arrested at Wukari on Wednesday, October 2, with 80 blocks of cannabis weighing 38kg hidden in bags of garri.

In Lagos, a suspect, Bolanle Ajenifuja, was arrested on Friday, October 4, at the Afo-Media area of Ojo, where 700 litres of skuchies, a mixture of local Chapman and a cocktail of illicit drugs, were recovered from her, while three suspects: Ezekiel Akpele; Elijah Michael; and Goddard John, were nabbed the same day when NDLEA operatives raided two cannabis farms located at bridge camp, a boundary community between Edo and Ondo States.

About 9,966.332kg of the substance was destroyed on over three hectares of farmland, with 48kg of the already processed psychoactive substance recovered.