Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 101-year-old woman for alleged drug dealing, after intercepting cocaine concealed in edible cassava flour popularly known as fufu.
According to NDLEA, the operatives seized consignments of illicit drugs worth over N4.4 billion in separate operations across the country.
The centenarian, identified as Esther Ogunmabo, was arrested on August 15, 2026, at Ilisan, Ogun State, with 90 grammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis, which she reportedly admitted selling in retail quantities.
She told operatives that she turned to drug dealing after her provisions shop was destroyed by fire, adding that one of her daughters based in Lagos, supplied her with cannabis every four days.
NDLEA Chairman, Mohamed Buba Marwa, directed that she be granted bail and placed on counselling due to her advanced age, while her daughter was arrested.
In Akwa Ibom, NDLEA operatives on August 21 intercepted a wooden boat conveying illicit drugs towards fishing settlements in Cameroon and arrested three suspects with 42.622kg of narcotics.
The seizure included 42.06kg of skunk, 1.12kg of skunk, and 20 grammes of cocaine cleverly concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava fufu, alongside 435 grammes of skunk.
The Agency also recorded what it described as its first seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand through the maritime corridor after intercepting two containers of cannabis indica, popularly known as Loud, at the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos.
The Apapa container, declared to contain dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries, contained 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud, while the Lekki container yielded 400kg, all with a combined consignments’ street value of over N4.4 billion.
In the FCT, operatives intercepted three waybill packages containing 24,410 tramadol capsules inside a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba on August 22.
A follow-up operation in Niger State led to the arrest of the alleged owner, 28-year-old Sunday Eze, in Kontagora.
In Ondo State, NDLEA operatives destroyed 10,000kg of skunk cultivated across four hectares at Ijare forest, Ifedore LGA, and separately recovered 210kg of skunk and a Toyota Camry at Ita-Ogbolu.
Other operations led to the seizure of 1.325kg of methamphetamine and cannabis in Kwara; 4.68kg of assorted illicit drugs from a 65-year-old woman in Oyo; 73.3kg of skunk in Kano; 48kg of skunk from three family members near Seme in Lagos; and 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, tramadol and Rohypnol in Abia.
The NDLEA also sustained its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns across schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities in several states.
Marwa commended officers and men of the affected commands for the successful operations and urged them to sustain the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control through enforcement, prevention and public education.
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https://x.com/DejiAdesogan/status/2091459178061525254
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