A federal high court in Lagos has sentenced Adrienne Munju, a 41-year-old Canadian woman, to 11 years in prison for drug trafficking.
Gatekeepers News reports that the court’s decision followed Munju’s guilty plea to a two-count charge brought against her by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Munju was arrested on October 3 at terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos, during the check-in of passengers arriving on a KLM flight.
NDLEA operatives discovered 74 parcels of a strong strain of synthetic cannabis known as “Canadian loud,” weighing a total of 35.20 kilograms, in her possession.
During the proceedings, Munju disclosed that she had been recruited to transport the illegal substance through an online platform, with the promise of earning 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery in Lagos.
She cited financial difficulties associated with her ongoing master’s degree program in Canada as her motivation for accepting the offer.
At the court hearing, after Munju’s guilty plea was recorded, Abu Ibrahim, the NDLEA prosecutor, presented a witness, Angela Mba, an assistant superintendent of narcotics.
Mba detailed Munju’s arrest and presented various exhibits, including the suitcases containing the drugs, Munju’s Canadian passport, confessional statements, laboratory test analysis reports, and samples of the illegal substance. These items were accepted as evidence by the court.
Following a thorough review of the facts and exhibits, presiding judge Deinde Dipeolu convicted Munju.
During the sentencing phase, her attorney, Benson Ndakara, appealed to the court for leniency on behalf of the defendant.
“We plead for leniency on behalf of the convict, my lord,” Ndakara said.
“The convict pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity by not wasting the precious time of the court and has been very remorseful.”
After listening to the allocutus by the defendant’s counsel, Dipeolu sentenced Adrienne Munju to six years in prison on count one and five years on count two.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option of a N50 million fine on each of the two counts, amounting to N100 million.
