Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 101-year-old great-grandmother, Esther Ogunmabo, in Ilisan, Ogun State, for allegedly dealing in illicit drugs.
Ogunmabo was apprehended with retail sachets of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 90 grams, which she reportedly sold to local residents.
According to NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi, the centenarian explained that she turned to the drug trade after her provisions shop was destroyed by fire. She further disclosed that one of her daughters, based in Lagos, supplied her with the drugs every four days for resale.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), has directed that Ogunmabo be granted bail and placed under counselling due to her advanced age, while her daughter has also been taken into custody.
In another operation in Akwa Ibom State, NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence, intercepted a wooden boat carrying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in Cameroon. Three suspects—Etima Effiong Eekpo (29), Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh (33), and Kingsley Effiong John (27)—were arrested. The operatives recovered a total of 42.622kg of narcotics, including skunk and cocaine cleverly concealed in cassava fufu.
Babafemi also announced the agency’s first-ever seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand via the maritime corridor. Two containers of cannabis indica, known as Loud, with a combined street value exceeding N4.4 billion, were intercepted at the Apapa and Lekki ports. The containers, loaded at Thailand’s Port of Laem Chabang, signal a new trafficking route for synthetic cannabis into Nigeria. At Apapa Port, a container falsely declared as carrying dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap, and inverter batteries was found to contain 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud packed in 54 cartons. At Lekki Deep Sea Port, a similar shipment yielded 400kg of cannabis concealed among cartons and A4 paper.
In the Federal Capital Territory, NDLEA officers intercepted three packages containing 24,410 tramadol capsules inside a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba. Follow-up operations led to the arrest of the consignment’s owner, Sunday Eze (28), in Kontagora, Niger State.
Elsewhere, NDLEA operatives in Ondo State raided a cannabis farm in Ijare forest, Ifedore LGA, destroying 10,000kg of skunk cultivated across four hectares and arresting three suspected cannabis planters. The same day in Ita-Ogbolu, Akure North LGA, officers recovered 210kg of skunk and a Toyota Camry linked to a suspect currently at large.
Further, a raid on Hadeija Road, Kano, led to the arrest of Chibuzor Madueke (31), with 98 blocks of skunk weighing 73.3kg. In Seme, Badagry, Lagos, NDLEA officials arrested three family members—Nasiru Tijjani (52), Moshood Tijjani (27), and Salami Tijjani (27)—with 48kg of skunk. In Abia State, a raid on the home of Ikechukwu Anthony Iwuno (36) resulted in the recovery of 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, 386 grams of tramadol, and 134 grams of rohypnol.
Brig. Gen. Marwa commended the NDLEA officers across Ogun, Apapa, Lekki, Seme, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Abia, and FCT Commands for their successful operations and urged continued commitment to the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
