A 41-year-old Canadian lady Adrienne Munju was on Wednesday convicted and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Lagos State for importing 74 parcels of Canadian Loud, a strong strain of synthetic cannabis weighing 35.20 kilogrammes into Nigeria.
Munju was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on October 3, 2024, during the inward clearance of inbound passengers.
In her statement after her arrest, she claimed she was recruited to traffic the illicit consignment through an online platform for 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery to Lagos.
She confessed that she took the offer because she needed the money to pay for her ongoing Master’s degree programme in Canada.
Upon arraignment before Justice Dehinde Dipeolu, Munju pleaded guilty to the two charges preferred against her by the NDLEA.
A statement by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said the Prosecuting Counsel, Barrister Ibrahim, told the court that the illegal acts of the convict contravened sections 20(1}(a) and 19 of the NDLEA Cap N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under Section 20(2)(a) of the same Act.
According to Babafemi. the judge sentenced Munju to six years imprisonment on count one and five years on count two, after listening to the allocutus by the defendant’s counsel.
“The judge, however, gave the convict an option of N50 million fine on each of the two counts, bringing the total fine to N100 million, “ the statement added.
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