By The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 101-year-old great-grandmother for dealing in illicit drugs, one of several breakthroughs the agency announced across the country’s land and maritime borders in a statement issued Sunday by its spokesman, Femi Babafemi.
Centenarian Arrested in Ogun State
The woman, identified as Esther Ogunmabo, was arrested by NDLEA operatives on Saturday, August 15, in Ilisan, Ogun State, in possession of retail sachets of skunk, a cannabis strain, weighing 90 grammes, which she said she sold to locals. According to the agency, she told operatives she turned to the illicit drug trade after her provisions shop was destroyed by fire and that one of her daughters, based in Lagos, supplied her with the substance every four days for resale in small quantities.
NDLEA Chairman/CEO Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.) directed that the centenarian be granted bail and placed on counselling given her advanced age. Her daughter, who allegedly arranged the supply, has been arrested. PUNCH Online had not been able to reach the suspect for comment.
Boat Interception in Akwa Ibom
Acting on intelligence, NDLEA operatives in Akwa Ibom State intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas on Friday, August 21, that was conveying drugs to fishing settlements in Cameroon. Three suspects were arrested aboard the vessel, which was headed to the Ine Isu, Ine Mbah, and Ine Ikot Itie Udung fishing ports: Etima Effiong Eekpo, 29, caught with 1.12 kg of skunk; Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh, 33, found with 42.06 kg of skunk; and 27-year-old Kingsley Effiong John, who had 20 grammes of cocaine concealed inside a wrap of cassava fufu, along with 435 grammes of skunk. In total, 42.622 kg of narcotics was recovered from the trio.
First-Ever Thailand Maritime Seizure
The agency also recorded what it described as its first-ever interception of drugs shipped from Thailand via the maritime corridor, seizing two containers of cannabis indica, known locally as “Loud,” at the Apapa and Lekki ports, with a combined street value put at over N4.4bn. Both containers were loaded at Thailand’s Port of Laem Chabang, a development the agency said points to a new trafficking route being used by drug syndicates to smuggle synthetic cannabis into Nigeria.
At Apapa Port, a container declared to be carrying dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap, and inverter batteries was found during a joint examination on Friday, August 21, involving the NDLEA, Customs, and other agencies, to instead contain 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud packed into 54 cartons comprising 2,181 sachets of 500 grammes each. At the Lekki Deep Sea Port, a container that had been on the agency’s watchlist and monitored by its Marine Special Operations Unit was examined on Wednesday, August 19. Of seven pallets found wrapped in black nylon, four were confirmed laced with Thai Loud, yielding 96 cartons made up of 400 parcels totalling 400 kg, while the remaining three pallets contained 798 rims of A4 paper used to disguise the shipment.
Tramadol Haul in the FCT, Cannabis Farm Raid in Ondo
In the Federal Capital Territory, operatives intercepted three waybill packages containing 24,410 tramadol capsules concealed inside a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba on Saturday, August 22. A follow-up operation in Niger State led to the arrest of the consignment’s owner, 28-year-old Sunday Eze, in Kontagora, after which he was transferred to Abuja.
In Ondo State, operatives raided a cannabis farm at Ijare Forest in Ifedore Local Government Area on August 19, following the earlier arrest of three suspected cannabis planters at the same site on August 16, destroying a total of 10,000 kg of skunk cultivated across four hectares. In a separate Ondo operation the same day at Ita Ogbolu, Akure North LGA, operatives recovered 210 kg of skunk and a Toyota Camry (registration AGL 223 JH) belonging to Sylvester Dibiagu Anthony, who remains at large.
Further Arrests in Kano, Lagos, and Abia
A raid on Hadeija Road, Kano, on Monday, August 17, led to the arrest of 31-year-old Chibuzor Madueke, from whom 98 blocks of skunk weighing 73.3 kg were recovered. In Ashipa, near the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, a similar operation led to the arrest of three family members, Nasiru Tijjani (52), Moshood Tijjani (27) and Salami Tijjani (27), found with 48 kg of skunk. In Abia State, officers raided the Umuobia Olokoro residence of 36-year-old Ikechukwu Anthony Iwuno on Thursday, August 20, recovering 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, 386 grammes of tramadol and 134 grammes of rohypnol.
Marwa commended officers across the Ogun, Apapa, Lekki, Seme, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Abia, and FCT commands for the operations and urged the agency’s personnel nationwide to sustain what he described as its balanced approach to drug control.
