By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia
A CENTENARIAN, Esther Ogunmabo, has been arrested for selling skunk in Ilisan, Ogun State, as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) operatives intercepted cocaine concealed in edible cassava fufu and seized Loud worth more than N4.4 billion at the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the NDLEA arrested Ogunmabo, 101-years, on Saturday, 15 August 2026, after finding 90 grams of skunk packaged in retail sachets in her possession.
The agency operatives said the aged woman told the operatives that she started selling the substance after a fire destroyed her provisions shop.
Ogunmabo also said one of her daughters, who lives in Lagos, supplied the drug every four days, which she sold in small quantities.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa, directed that she be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her advanced age while her daughter was promptly arrested.
In Akwa Ibom, operatives also intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas on Friday, 21 August, after receiving credible intelligence that it was conveying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in Cameroon.
Three suspects were arrested aboard the boat, which was heading to the Ine Isu, Ine Mbah and Ine Ikot Itie Udung fishing ports.
Etima Effiong Eekpo, 29, was arrested with 1.120kg of skunk, while Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh, 33, was found with 42.060kg of skunk.
Kingsley Effiong John, 27, had 20 grams of cocaine concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava fufu, alongside 435 grams of skunk.
The operation resulted in the recovery of 42.622kg of narcotics.
The agency also recorded what it described as its first ever seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand through the maritime corridor after intercepting two containers of cannabis indica, also known as Loud, at the Apapa and Lekki ports.
The combined street value of the consignments was put at more than N4.4 billion.
Both containers were loaded at the Port of Laem Chabang in Thailand, which the agency said highlighted the emergence of a new trafficking route being used by drug syndicates to smuggle synthetic cannabis into Nigeria.
At Apapa Port, a container declared to contain dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries was examined jointly by NDLEA, Customs and others on Friday, 21 August.
The inspection uncovered 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud packed in 54 cartons containing 2,181 sachets of 500 grams each.
At the Lekki Deep Sea Port, another container that had been placed on the agency’s watchlist and monitored by its Marine Special Operations Unit was jointly examined on Wednesday, 19 August.
Four of seven pallets wrapped in black nylon contained Thai Loud, yielding 96 cartons made up of 400 parcels weighing 400kg. The remaining three pallets contained 798 rims of A4 paper used as cover for the consignment.
In the Federal Capital Territory, operatives intercepted three waybill packages containing 24,410 pills of tramadol capsules inside a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba on Saturday, 22 August.
A follow up operation in Niger State led to the arrest of the owner of the consignment, 28-year-old Sunday Eze, in Kontagora. He was later transferred to Abuja.
Operatives in Ondo State also raided a cannabis farm at Ijare forest in Ifedore Local Government Area on Wednesday, 19 August, following the arrest of three suspected cannabis planters at the same location on 16 August.
The team destroyed 10,000kg of skunk cultivated across four hectares of the forest.
In a separate operation at Ita Ogbolu in Akure North Local Government Area on the same day, operatives recovered 210kg of skunk and a Toyota Camry belonging to Sylvester Dibiagu Anthony, who is currently at large.
In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives patrolling the Ogbomosho Ilorin expressway in Ilorin intercepted a Toyota Starlet without a registration number on Friday, 21 August.
A search of the vehicle produced 1.325kg of methamphetamine wrapped in black nylon bags, alongside quantities of cannabis sativa. Muhammadu Usman, 22, was arrested.
A 65 year old woman, Adebayo Kaosarat, was also arrested at Akobo Ojuirin in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday, 21 August, with 1.795kg of Scottish Loud, 1.66kg of tramadol, 600 grams of codeine syrup, 125 grams of diazepam and 50 grams of flunitrazepam. The substances weighed 4.68kg in total.
In Kano, a raid on Hadeija Road on Monday, 17 August, led to the arrest of Chibuzor Madueke, 31, with 98 blocks of skunk weighing 73.3kg.
At Seme in the Badagry area of Lagos, NDLEA operatives arrested three family members, Nasiru Tijjani, 52, Moshood Tijjani, 27, and Salami Tijjani, 27, at Ashipa near the Seme border.
They were found with 48kg of skunk.
In Abia State, officers raided the residence of Ikechukwu Anthony Iwuno, 36, at Umuobia Olokoro in Umuahia South Local Government Area on Thursday, 20 August.
The operation recovered 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, 386 grams of tramadol and 134 grams of rohypnol.
NDLEA Commands and formations across the country also continued their War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities during the past week.
Activities included enlightenment lectures at Umar Bn Khattab College for Islamic Studies in Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano, Markaz Al Furqan Centre of Islamic and Arabic Teaching in Kishi, Oyo State, the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, Mu’assasah Tahfizui Qur’an Islamiya School in Ibi, Taraba State, and the Scout Association of Nigeria’s first National Youth Camp in Benin City, Edo State.
The Idiroko Special Area Command also paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Chairman of Ipokia Local Government Area in Ogun State, Hon Johnson Avoseh.
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 and urged them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the agency’s current balanced approach to drug control efforts.
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