Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a 101-year-old woman, Esther Ogunmabo, for allegedly dealing in illicit drugs in Ilisan, Ogun State.
The arrest was disclosed in a statement issued on Sunday by the NDLEA Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who said the centenarian was found with 90 grammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis, packaged in retail sachets.
According to the agency, Ogunmabo told operatives that she turned to the illicit drug trade after her provisions shop was razed by fire. She reportedly said one of her daughters, who lives in Lagos, supplied the cannabis to her every four days, which she sold in small quantities to residents.
Babafemi said the 101-year-old was arrested on Saturday, August 15, 2026, during an operation by NDLEA personnel in the community.
He added that the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), directed that the suspect be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her advanced age.
The NDLEA spokesman, however, disclosed that the woman’s daughter had been arrested in connection with the alleged drug trade.
The agency also reported several other drug seizures and arrests across the country, including the interception of a wooden boat in Akwa Ibom State allegedly conveying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in Cameroon.
Three suspects were arrested aboard the vessel, while 42.622kg of narcotics, including skunk and cocaine, were recovered.
In Lagos, the agency said it made its first seizure of illicit drugs shipped from Thailand through the maritime corridor after two containers containing cannabis indica, popularly known as Loud, were intercepted at the Apapa and Lekki ports.
The combined street value of the seized drugs was estimated at more than N4.4bn.
At the Apapa Port, NDLEA operatives, working with the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies, discovered 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud concealed in a container declared to contain dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts, turmeric soap and inverter batteries.
Another 400kg of the substance was recovered from a container at the Lekki Deep Sea Port.
The agency also reported the seizure of 24,410 tramadol capsules in the Federal Capital Territory, the destruction of 10,000kg of cannabis cultivated across four hectares in Ondo State, and other arrests and seizures in Kano, Lagos, Abia and other parts of the country.
Marwa commended officers and men of the various commands involved in the operations and urged them to sustain what he described as the agency’s balanced approach to drug control across the country.
