Canadian Drug Pusher to Pay N100m Fine or Spend 11 Years in Jail

Adrienne Munju, a 41-year-old Canadian drug trafficker, has been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment by the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State on Wednesday.

She got a N100 million fine option to avoid serving the jail term.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) arrested Munju on October 3 at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos. The NDLEA shared details of her arraignment on Wednesday.

Her confession to the crime accelerated the trial period. The confession included how she engaged in the trans-border illicit trade for an anticipated payment of CAD$10,000 from an online platform to fund her master’s degree in Canada.

Two charges were preferred against Munju upon which Justice Dehinde Dipeolu found her criminal act contravened Sections 20(1)(a) and 19 of the NDLEA Act.

The judge sentenced her to prison for six years on one charge and five years on the second charge.

The two counts charge reads: “That you Adrienne Munju, Adult, Female, a Canadian, on or about the 3rd of October, 2024 during the inward clearance of in-bound passengers on KLM flight at the ‘D’ Arrival Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos without lawful authority imported 35.20 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa, otherwise known as ‘Canadian Loud’, you thereby committed an act which is an offence contrary to Section 20(1)(a) and punishable under Section 20(2)(a) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act (NDLEA) Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

“That you Adrienne Munju, Adult, Female, a Canadian, on or about the 3rd of October, 2024 during the inward clearance of in-bound passengers on KLM flight at the ‘D’ Arrival Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos without lawful authority knowingly possessed 35.20 kilograms of Cannabis Sativa otherwise known as ‘Canadian Loud’, you thereby committed an act which is an offence contrary to Section 19 of the National Drug Law ⁠Enforcement Agency Act (NDLEA) Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

Munju pleaded for leniency, prompting the judge to give her an option of paying a N50 million fine on each charge, making it N100 million.

CityNews reported on October 6 how the NDLEA arrested the drug trafficker with synthetic cannabis at the airport.

She came into Nigeria with three bags, two of which contained 74 parcels of the illicit substance weighing 35.2 kilogrammes.