NDLEA Arrests 101-Year-Old Woman, Seizes N4.4bn Worth of ‘Loud’ at Lagos Ports
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 101-year-old great-grandmother for alleged drug dealing as the agency intensified operations across Nigeria, recording major seizures of cocaine, synthetic cannabis, methamphetamine, tramadol and other illicit substances.
The operations also led to the interception of more than N4.4 billion worth of synthetic cannabis, popularly known as Loud, at the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos.
In one of the most unusual arrests, NDLEA operatives apprehended the 101-year-old woman, identified as Esther Ogunmabo, at Ilisan in Ogun State on Saturday, August 15, 2026.
The agency said 90 grammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis packaged in retail sachets, were recovered from her.
According to the NDLEA, Ogunmabo told operatives that she began selling the illicit substance after her provisions shop was destroyed by fire. She allegedly claimed that one of her daughters, who lives in Lagos, arranged supplies for her every four days, which she then sold in small quantities to residents.
However, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), directed that the centenarian should be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her advanced age. Her daughter has subsequently been arrested in connection with the alleged supply.
In another operation, NDLEA operatives in Akwa Ibom State intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas on Friday, August 21, allegedly conveying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in the Republic of Cameroon.
Three suspects were arrested aboard the boat, which was heading towards the Ine Isu, Ine Mbah and Ine Ikot Itie Udung fishing ports in Cameroon.
The suspects included 29-year-old Etima Effiong Eekpo, who was allegedly caught with 1.120kg of skunk; Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh, 33, with 42.060kg; and Kingsley Effiong John, 27, from whom operatives recovered 20 grammes of cocaine concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava flour, popularly known as fufu, alongside 435 grammes of skunk. The total quantity of narcotics recovered from the three suspects was put at 42.622kg.
Meanwhile, the agency recorded what it described as its first seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand through Nigeria’s maritime corridor, following the interception of two containers at the Apapa and Lekki ports.
Both consignments were loaded at the Port of Laem Chabang in Thailand, signalling what the NDLEA described as an emerging trafficking route being exploited by drug syndicates.
At Apapa Port, a container declared to contain dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries was jointly examined by the NDLEA, Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies on August 21. The examination uncovered 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud packed in 54 cartons containing 2,181 sachets of 500 grammes each.
Similarly, at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, NDLEA operatives jointly examined another container that had been placed on the agency’s watchlist and monitored by its Marine Special Operations Unit.
Four of seven pallets wrapped in black nylon were found to contain Thai Loud, yielding 96 cartons containing 400 parcels weighing a total of 400kg. The remaining three pallets contained 798 rims of A4 paper allegedly used to conceal the drug consignment. The combined street value of the seizures was estimated at more than N4.4 billion.
In the Federal Capital Territory, operatives intercepted three waybill packages containing 24,410 tramadol capsules in a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba on Saturday, August 22. A follow-up operation in Kontagora, Niger State, led to the arrest of the alleged owner of the consignment, 28-year-old Sunday Eze.
Other operations were recorded in Ondo, Kwara, Oyo, Kano, Lagos and Abia states.
In Ondo State, operatives destroyed 10,000kg of skunk cultivated on four hectares of farmland in the Ijare forest, Ifedore Local Government Area. Another 210kg of skunk and a Toyota Camry were recovered at Ita-Ogbolu in Akure North.
In Kwara, a 22-year-old suspect, Muhammadu Usman, was arrested after 1.325kg of methamphetamine and quantities of cannabis were allegedly recovered from a Toyota Starlet along the Ogbomosho-Ilorin Expressway.
A 65-year-old woman, Adebayo Kaosarat, was also arrested in Ibadan, Oyo State, with various substances, including Scottish Loud, tramadol, codeine syrup, diazepam and flunitrazepam weighing a combined 4.68kg.
The NDLEA said its officers also continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities across the country.
Marwa commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control, combining enforcement activities with public education and counselling.
The operations covered commands and formations in Ogun, Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Abia and the Federal Capital Territory, among others.
