By Felix Mbata, Lagos state
It was a week of startling discoveries and historic seizures for operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, as the Agency recorded breakthroughs across Nigeria’s land borders, forests, highways and maritime ports that exposed the desperation and evolving tactics of drug syndicates.
From a quiet community in Ogun State where a 101-year-old great grandmother was found selling skunk, to the high seas of Akwa Ibom where cocaine was cleverly hidden inside a wrap of edible cassava fufu, and to the nation’s busiest ports where N4.4 billion worth of Loud was intercepted in Nigeria’s first-ever seizure of Thai cannabis, the past seven days painted a picture of an Agency tightening the noose on traffickers.
The drama began on Saturday, 15th August 2026 in Ilisan, Ogun State, when NDLEA operatives swooped on Esther Ogunmabo. At 101 years old, the great grandmother was arrested with 90 grams of skunk packaged in small retail sachets which she admitted selling to locals in bits. With tears in her eyes, she told investigators that hardship pushed her into the trade after fire razed her provisions shop. She revealed that a daughter resident in Lagos had been supplying her every four days. Moved by her age and circumstance, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), directed that she be granted bail and placed on counselling, even as her daughter was taken into custody.
Just six days later, the story shifted to Nigeria’s waters. On Friday, 21st August, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas off Akwa Ibom State. The boat was heading to fishing settlements in the Republic of Cameroon. On board were three men whose bags contained a total of 42.622kg of narcotics. One of them, Kingsley Effiong John, 27, had gone to extra lengths to beat detection. Inside a large wrap of fufu, operatives found 20 grams of cocaine, while the others carried 1.120kg and 42.060kg of skunk respectively. The arrest underscored how traffickers are now hiding hard drugs in food items to cross borders.
But the biggest blow came from Nigeria’s maritime corridor. For the first time in NDLEA’s history, the Agency intercepted illicit drugs shipped directly from Thailand. Two containers loaded at the Port of Laem Chabang arrived separately at Apapa and Lekki Deep Sea ports in Lagos, carrying what would become a N4.4 billion seizure of cannabis indica, popularly known as Loud.
At Apapa Port on Friday 21st August, a joint examination by NDLEA and Customs officials opened a container declared to be carrying dry fish, rice, vehicle spare parts and inverter batteries. Beneath the cover, they found 54 cartons packed with 2,181 sachets of 500 grams each, totaling 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud.
Two days earlier at Lekki Deep Sea Port, the Agency’s Marine Special Operations Unit had been watching another container. When it was opened on Wednesday 19th August, seven pallets were discovered. Four of them, wrapped in black nylon, yielded 96 cartons containing 400 parcels of Loud weighing 400kg. The remaining three pallets were filled with 798 rims of A4 paper cleverly used to conceal the consignment.
The land operations were no less intense. In the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday 22nd August, operatives stopped a hummer bus traveling from Enugu to Zuba and discovered three waybill packages containing 24,410 pills of tramadol capsules. A follow-up in Kontagora, Niger State, led to the arrest of the owner, Sunday Eze, 28.
In Ondo State, the Agency took the war to the forests. On Wednesday 19th August, following the arrest of three suspected planters days earlier, operatives raided a cannabis farm at Ijare in Ifedore Local Government Area and destroyed 10,000kg of skunk cultivated across four hectares. That same day in Ita-Ogbolu, Akure North, they recovered another 210kg of skunk and a Toyota Camry with registration number AGL 223 JH. The owner, Sylvester Dibiagu Anthony, remains at large.
The patrol teams were also active on highways. On Friday 21st August along the Ogbomosho-Ilorin expressway in Kwara State, a Toyota Starlet without registration was stopped. Inside, wrapped in black nylon, were 1.325kg of methamphetamine and quantities of cannabis. Muhammadu Usman, 22, was arrested.
In Ibadan, Oyo State, operatives arrested Adebayo Kaosarat, 65, at Akobo-Ojuirin with a dangerous cocktail weighing 4.68kg. Her stash included 1.795kg of Scottish Loud, 1.66kg of tramadol, 600g of codeine syrup, 125g of diazepam and 50g of flunitrazepam.
Up north in Kano, Chibuzor Madueke, 31, was picked up at Hadeija road on Monday 17th August with 98 blocks of skunk weighing 73.3kg. At the Seme border in Lagos, the net closed on a family. Nasiru Tijjani, 52, Moshood Tijjani, 27, and Salami Tijjani, 27, were arrested at Ashipa area with 48kg of skunk.
In Abia State, Ikechukwu Anthony Iwuno, 36, was raided at his residence in Umuobia Olokoro, Umuahia South on Thursday 20th August. From his home, operatives recovered 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, 386 grams of tramadol and 134 grams of rohypnol.
While the enforcement arm was busy, the Agency’s War Against Drug Abuse, WADA campaign continued across institutions. Sensitization lectures were delivered to students and staff of Umar Bn Khattab College in Kano, Markaz Al-Furqan in Oyo, School of Nursing in Kebbi, Mu’assasah Tahfizui Qur’an in Taraba, and members of the Scout Association at the National Youth Camp in Edo. The Idiroko Special Area Command also paid an advocacy visit to the Chairman of Ipokia LGA, Hon. Johnson Avoseh.
Conclusively, commending the officers of Ogun, Apapa, Lekki, Seme, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Abia and FCT Commands, Gen. Marwa said the week’s operations reflected NDLEA’s resolve to adopt a balanced approach of drug supply reduction, demand reduction and public enlightenment.
He noted that the emergence of Thai Loud and the concealment of cocaine in fufu were clear signs that traffickers were getting creative, but assured that the Agency, with the support of partners, would continue to adapt, intercept and dismantle every network threatening Nigerian communities.