By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Reporter
AN ELDERLY ex-convict, an 82-year-old woman, and a polytechnic student were among those arrested as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) intensified its crackdown on illicit drugs, intercepting opioids worth over ₦3.2 billion at seaports and across various states.
Operatives arrested 80-year-old Ayuba Ashiru, a previously convicted drug trafficker, on 14 May at Barazana Street in Sabon Gari, Kaduna State. Intelligence-led operations led to the discovery of 2.3 kilogrammes of skunk wrapped in nylons and paper.
Ashiru confessed to 46 years in the drug trade, including a decade-long prison sentence from 2014 to 2024.
In Abia State, an NDLEA team stormed the home of 82-year-old Uloma Uchechi Sunday in Umuaguma Ntigha Uzor village on 17 May. Seized items included methamphetamine, tramadol, and skunk alongside ₦130,600 in cash.
Her daughter, Chisom Uchechi, 32, was arrested at the scene. Both admitted continuing the trade after the son’s death two years earlier.
Large-scale interceptions occurred at key ports.
At Onne Port in Rivers State, 3 million pills of tapentadol and carisoprodol, valued at ₦2.1 billion, were confiscated from a watch-listed container on 14 May during a joint security inspection.
A day earlier, NDLEA officers at Apapa Port, Lagos, discovered 169,800 bottles of codeine syrup, hidden in a shipment of car parts from India, worth over ₦1.1 billion.
Kwara State operations on 16 May led to the arrest of two suspects in Ilorin with 199,200 tramadol pills.
Further raids targeted a student lodge, where NDLEA found 650 grams of Loud, a potent cannabis strain, measured in 149 cups.
The suspect, identified as Ibrahim Oladimeji Abdulateef, an HND1 Laboratory Science Technology student, admitted to supplying fellow students.
A shipment bound for Australia containing 250 grams of cocaine was intercepted on 16 May at a courier company in Lagos.
The substance was concealed in a female headgear.
Highway patrols also yielded significant finds. In Niger State on 15 May, NDLEA stopped a Toyota Carina with 316 blocks of skunk weighing 143kg.
One man, Idris Kamal, was arrested, and a follow-up operation secured the main owner, Bello Aliyu, 39, also known as Liti. On the same day, a second patrol at Chachi Junction in Niger arrested a suspect, Emmanuel Hassan, with 14.3kg of Loud.
Additional arrests across the country included a 60-year-old man, Welman Kengbo, caught with nearly 595kg of skunk in Karu, Nasarawa State; Oyenuga Toheeb with 67.5kg along the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos; Shafiu Ismail, 22, found with tramadol and diazepam in Jalingo, Taraba State; and Tijjani Mohammed, 35, nabbed with 198kg of skunk in Garki, Jigawa State.
A dramatic twist unfolded along the Abuja–Kaduna highway on 16 May when NDLEA operatives arrested 29-year-old Ismail Isah transporting an AK-47 rifle and two magazines hidden in a maize sack. He is to be handed over to another security agency for further investigation.
While enforcement continued, the agency’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy reached schools across several states including Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Osun, and Rivers. Lectures and sensitisation sessions targeted students and staff as part of the ongoing nationwide demand-reduction campaign.
NDLEA Chairman Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) praised the efforts of the various commands, lauding their coordination in drug supply disruption and community-focused outreach.
