By Amofokhai Williams
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have recorded major breakthroughs across Nigeria’s land and maritime borders, including the arrest of a 101-year-old great-grandmother, the interception of cocaine cleverly concealed in cassava flour popularly known as fufu.
The NDLEA also seized cannabis indica, widely referred to as Loud, valued at over N4.4 billion at the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos.
In a startling and rare development, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, 15th August 2026, arrested 101-year-old Esther Ogunmabo in Ilisan, Ogun State, with 90 grams of skunk, a potent strain of cannabis, which she admitted selling in small quantities to local residents.
Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, stated that the centenarian told operatives she resorted to the illicit drug trade after her provisions shop was consumed by fire.
He added that the elderly woman explained one of her daughters, who resides in Lagos, arranged supply of the substance every four days, which she then retailed in bits.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), has however directed that the suspect be granted bail and placed on counselling on account of her advanced age, while her daughter has since been arrested and is assisting with investigations.
In a related development in Akwa Ibom State, acting on credible intelligence, operatives intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas on Friday, 21st August, conveying illicit drugs bound for fishing settlements in the Republic of Cameroon.
Three suspects were taken into custody on board the vessel, which was heading for the Ine Isu, Ine Mbah and Ine Ikot Itie Udung fishing ports in Cameroon. Babafemi disclosed that a total of 42.622 kilograms of narcotics was recovered from the trio, namely Etima Effiong Eekpo, aged 29; Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh, aged 33; and Kingsley Effiong John, aged 27.
The NDLEA spokesman added that 20 grams of cocaine was found cleverly concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava fufu alongside 435 grams of skunk in John’s possession.
The Agency also recorded its first-ever seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand through the maritime corridor, intercepting two containers of cannabis indica, also known as Loud, at the Apapa and Lekki ports, with a combined street value estimated at over N4.4 billion.
Both containers were loaded at the Port of Laem Chabang in Thailand, underscoring the emergence of a new trafficking route being exploited by drug syndicates to smuggle synthetic cannabis into the country.
At Apapa Port, during a joint examination on Friday, 21st August, a container declared to be conveying dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries was found to contain 1,090.5 kilograms of Thai Loud packed in 54 cartons comprising 2,181 sachets of 500 grams each.
At the Lekki Deep Sea Port, a similar container which had been placed on the Agency’s watchlist and monitored by its Marine Special Operations Unit was jointly examined on Wednesday, 19th August. Four of seven pallets found in the container and wrapped in black nylon were confirmed to be laced with Thai Loud, yielding 96 cartons made up of 400 parcels weighing a total of 400 kilograms, while the remaining three pallets contained 798 rims of A4 paper used as cover for the consignment.
In the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, 22nd August, intercepted three waybill packages containing 24,410 tramadol pills inside a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba.
A follow-up operation conducted in Niger State led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, Sunday Eze, aged 28, in Kontagora, after which he was transferred to Abuja.
Operatives in Ondo State on Wednesday, 19th August, raided a cannabis farm at Ijare Forest in Ifedore Local Government Area, following the earlier arrest of three suspected cannabis planters at the same location on 16th August.
The team destroyed a total of 10,000 kilograms of skunk cultivated across four hectares of the forest, while in a separate operation in the state the same day at Ita-Ogbolu in Akure North Local Government Area, operatives recovered 210 kilograms of skunk and a Toyota Camry car bearing registration number AGL 223 JH belonging to Sylvester Dibiagu Anthony, who is currently at large.
In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Ogbomoso-Ilorin Expressway in Ilorin on Friday, 21st August, intercepted a Toyota Starlet car without a registration number, and a search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 1.325 kilograms of methamphetamine wrapped in black nylon bags alongside quantities of cannabis sativa, while one suspect, Muhammadu Usman, aged 22, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
