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Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 101-year-old woman for allegedly selling illicit drugs, intercepted cocaine concealed in edible cassava flour, and seized synthetic cannabis worth more than N4.4 billion in separate operations across Nigeria.
The agency made the seizures and arrests at land and maritime locations, including the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos, according to a statement issued by NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi.
In Ogun State, NDLEA operatives on August 15 arrested 101-year-old Esther Ogunmabo in Ilisan with 90 grams of skunk, a strain of cannabis, packaged in retail sachets.
The agency said Ogunmabo told operatives she turned to drug dealing after her provisions shop was destroyed by fire.
She reportedly said one of her daughters, who lives in Lagos, supplied her with the substance every four days, which she sold in small quantities.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), directed that the centenarian be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her age. Her daughter was also arrested.
“The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) has, however, directed that the suspect be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her advanced age, while her daughter has been arrested,” Babafemi noted.
In Akwa Ibom, operatives on August 21 intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas allegedly carrying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in Cameroon.
Three suspects were arrested, with 42.622kg of narcotics recovered.
One of them, 27-year-old Kingsley Effiong John, was allegedly found with 20 grams of cocaine concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava fufu, alongside 435 grams of skunk.
Meanwhile, the agency said it made its first-ever seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand through Nigeria’s maritime corridor after intercepting two containers of cannabis indica, popularly known as Loud, at the Apapa and Lekki ports.
The consignments had a combined street value of more than N4.4 billion.
At Apapa Port, NDLEA said a container declared to contain dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries was found to contain 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud packed in 54 cartons.
At the Lekki Deep Sea Port, another monitored container yielded 400kg of Thai Loud concealed among pallets of A4 paper.
The agency said the seizures pointed to “the emergence of a new trafficking route being exploited by drug syndicates to smuggle synthetic cannabis into the country.”
Other operations during the week resulted in the seizure of 10,000kg of cannabis from a farm in Ondo State, 24,410 tramadol capsules in the Federal Capital Territory and 1.325kg of methamphetamine in Kwara State.
In Oyo State, NDLEA operatives also arrested a 65-year-old woman with 4.68kg of assorted illicit substances, including Loud, tramadol, codeine syrup, diazepam and flunitrazepam.
Marwa commended the officers involved in the operations and urged NDLEA personnel across the country to sustain their drug-control efforts.
