A 101-year-old woman, Esther Ogunmabo, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly dealing in cannabis, while the agency intercepted cocaine concealed inside edible cassava flour, popularly known as fufu, in Akwa Ibom State.
The arrests formed part of a series of operations carried out by the anti-narcotics agency across several states and the nation’s maritime borders, during which large consignments of illicit drugs, including Loud, methamphetamine, skunk and opioids, were recovered.
Ogunmabo was arrested on Saturday, August 15, 2026, at Ilisan, Ogun State, with 90 grammes of skunk packaged in retail sachets.
According to the NDLEA, the centenarian told operatives that she sold the drug to locals after her provisions shop was destroyed by fire.
She reportedly disclosed that one of her daughters, who lives in Lagos, supplied her with the cannabis every four days, which she sold in small quantities.
Following her arrest, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), directed that the 101-year-old suspect be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her advanced age. Her daughter, however, was arrested.
In Akwa Ibom, NDLEA operatives on Friday, August 21, intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas allegedly conveying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in Cameroon.
Three suspects arrested aboard the boat were identified as Etima Effiong Eekpo, 29; Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh, 33; and Kingsley Effiong John, 27.
Eekpo was found with 1.120kg of skunk, while Etukudoh had 42.060kg of the same substance. John was allegedly caught with 20 grammes of cocaine concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava fufu, alongside 435 grammes of skunk.
The agency said a total of 42.622kg of illicit drugs was recovered from the trio.
At the nation’s seaports, NDLEA operatives recorded what the agency described as its first seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand through the maritime corridor, intercepting two containers of cannabis indica, popularly known as Loud, at the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos.
The combined street value of the seized Loud was estimated at more than N4.4 billion.
At Apapa Port, a container declared to contain dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries was subjected to a joint examination by the NDLEA, Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies on Friday, August 21.
The examination uncovered 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud packed in 54 cartons containing 2,181 sachets of 500 grammes each.
At the Lekki Deep Sea Port, another container earlier placed on the NDLEA watchlist was jointly examined on Wednesday, August 19, following monitoring by the agency’s Marine Special Operations Unit.
Four of seven pallets inside the container were found to contain Thai Loud.
The consignment comprised 96 cartons containing 400 parcels with a combined weight of 400kg, while the remaining three pallets contained 798 rims of A4 paper allegedly used to conceal the drugs.
The NDLEA said both containers originated from the Port of Laem Chabang in Thailand, raising concerns over the emergence of a new route being exploited by international drug trafficking syndicates.
In the Federal Capital Territory, operatives on Saturday, August 22, intercepted three waybill packages containing 24,410 tramadol capsules hidden inside a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba.
A follow-up operation in Niger State led to the arrest of the alleged owner of the consignment, 28-year-old Sunday Eze, in Kontagora. He was subsequently transferred to Abuja.
In Ondo State, NDLEA operatives raided a cannabis farm at Ijare forest in Ifedore Local Government Area on August 19, following the earlier arrest of three suspected cannabis growers at the location.
The operation led to the destruction of 10,000kg of skunk cultivated on four hectares of forest land.
In a separate operation at Ita-Ogbolu, Akure North Local Government Area, 210kg of skunk was recovered alongside a Toyota Camry belonging to Sylvester Dibiagu Anthony, who is currently at large.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives in Kwara State intercepted a Toyota Starlet without a registration number along the Ogbomoso-Ilorin Expressway on Friday, August 21.
A search of the vehicle uncovered 1.325kg of methamphetamine and quantities of cannabis sativa, with a 22-year-old suspect, Muhammadu Usman, arrested.
In Ibadan, Oyo State, a 65-year-old woman, Adebayo Kaosarat, was arrested at Akobo-Ojuirin area on August 21 with 4.68kg of assorted illicit substances.
The drugs included 1.795kg of Scottish Loud, 1.66kg of tramadol, 600 grammes of codeine syrup, 125 grammes of diazepam and 50 grammes of flunitrazepam.
In Kano State, a raid along Hadeija Road on August 17 led to the arrest of 31-year-old Chibuzor Madueke, from whom 98 blocks of skunk weighing 73.3kg were recovered.
At Seme in the Badagry area of Lagos, three members of the same family — Nasiru Tijjani, 52; Moshood Tijjani, 27; and Salami Tijjani, 27 — were arrested at Ashipa near the Seme border with 48kg of skunk.
In Abia State, NDLEA officers raided the residence of 36-year-old Ikechukwu Anthony Iwuno at Umuobia Olokoro, Umuahia South Local Government Area, recovering 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, 386 grammes of tramadol and 134 grammes of Rohypnol.
Beyond interdiction operations, the agency said its commands and formations across the country sustained its War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities.
NDLEA Chairman Marwa commended officers and men of the Ogun, Apapa, Lekki, Seme, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Abia and FCT Commands for the successful operations.
He urged personnel across the country to sustain what he described as the agency’s balanced approach to drug control, combining enforcement operations with prevention, sensitisation and counselling.
