Cocaine in Fufu, ₦4.4bn Loud Seized as NDLEA Intensifies Crackdown, arrests 101-Year- Old Woman

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have recorded major breakthroughs across Nigeria’s land and maritime borders, including the arrest of a 101-year-old great-grandmother for dealing in illicit drugs, the interception of cocaine concealed in edible cassava flour popularly known as fufu, and the seizure of large consignments of Loud, a synthetic cannabis valued at over N4.

4 billion at the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos.
Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
In a rare development, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, August 15, 2026, arrested 101-year-old Esther Ogunmabo in Ilisan, Ogun State, with retail sachets of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 90 grams. She reportedly told operatives that she sold the substance to locals.
The centenarian said she resorted to the illicit drug trade after her provisions shop was razed by fire. She added that one of her daughters, who lives in Lagos, arranged for the supply of the substance every four days, which she sold in bits.
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), directed that the suspect be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her advanced age, while her daughter was arrested.
In a related development, NDLEA operatives in Akwa Ibom State, acting on credible intelligence, intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas on Friday, August 21, carrying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in the Republic of Cameroon.
Three suspects arrested aboard the boat were Etima Effiong Eekpo, 29, who was caught with 1.120kg of skunk; Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh, 33, who had 42.060kg of skunk; and 27-year-old Kingsley Effiong John, who was found with 20 grams of cocaine cleverly concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava fufu, alongside 435 grams of skunk. A total of 42.622kg of narcotics was recovered from the trio.
In the nation’s maritime space, the agency recorded 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 drugs was put at over N4.4 billion.
Both containers were loaded at the Port of Laem Chabang, Thailand, highlighting the emergence of a new trafficking route being exploited by drug syndicates to smuggle synthetic cannabis into Nigeria.
At the Apapa Port, a container declared to be carrying dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries was found, during a joint examination by the NDLEA, Customs and other agencies on Friday, August 21, to contain 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud packed in 54 cartons comprising 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, August 19. Four of the seven pallets found wrapped in black nylon were confirmed to contain 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 Abuja, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, August 22, intercepted three waybill packages containing 24,410 pills of tramadol capsules inside a Hummer bus travelling from Enugu to Zuba. 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 subsequently transferred to Abuja.
In Ondo State, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, August 19, raided a cannabis farm at Ijare forest in Ifedore Local Government Area, following the earlier arrest of three suspected cannabis planters at the location on August 16. The team destroyed 10,000kg of skunk cultivated across four hectares of the forest.
In a separate operation in the state on the same day, operatives at Ita-Ogbolu, Akure North LGA, recovered 210kg of skunk and a Toyota Camry with registration number AGL 223 JH, belonging to Sylvester Dibiagu Anthony, who is currently at large.
In Kwara State, NDLEA operatives patrolling the Ogbomosho-Ilorin Expressway, Ilorin, on Friday, August 21, intercepted a Toyota Starlet without a registration number. A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 1.325kg of methamphetamine wrapped in black nylon bags, alongside quantities of cannabis sativa. A 22-year-old suspect, Muhammadu Usman, was arrested in connection with the seizure.
A 65-year-old woman, Adebayo Kaosarat, was also arrested at the Akobo-Ojuirin area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Friday, August 21, with a cocktail of substances comprising 1.795kg of Scottish Loud, 1.66kg of tramadol, 600g of codeine syrup, 125g of diazepam and 50g of flunitrazepam, totalling 4.68kg.
A raid at Hadeija Road, Kano, on Monday, August 17, led to the arrest of 31-year-old Chibuzor Madueke, with 98 blocks of skunk weighing 73.3kg recovered from him.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives at Seme, Badagry area of Lagos, arrested three family members — Nasiru Tijjani, 52; Moshood Tijjani, 27; and Salami Tijjani, 27 — at Ashipa area near the Seme border, with 48kg of skunk.
In Abia State, NDLEA officers on Thursday, August 20, raided the residence of 36-year-old Ikechukwu Anthony Iwuno at Umuobia Olokoro area of Umuahia South LGA. The operation led to the recovery of 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, 386 grams of tramadol and 134 grams of rohypnol.
Meanwhile, Commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities during the past week.
The activities included WADA enlightenment lectures at Umar Bn Khattab College for Islamic Studies, Ungogo LGA, Kano; Markaz Al-Furqan Centre of Islamic and Arabic Teaching, Kishi, Oyo State; School of Nursing and Midwifery, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State; Mu’assasah Tahfizui Qur’an Islamiya School, Ibi, Taraba State; and members of the Scout Association of Nigeria at the first National Youth Camp in Benin City, Edo State.
The Idiroko Special Area Command of the NDLEA also paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Chairman of Ipokia LGA, Ogun State, Hon. Johnson Avoseh, among other activities.
While commending officers and men of the Ogun, Apapa, Lekki, Seme, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Abia and FCT Commands for the successful operations, Marwa urged them and their colleagues across the country to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.