NDLEA arrests 101-year-old woman over drug dealing, intercepts cocaine in fufu
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 101-year-old woman, Esther Ogunmabo, for allegedly dealing in cannabis, while operatives also intercepted cocaine concealed in edible cassava flour, popularly known as fufu, in Akwa Ibom State.
The agency, in a statement by its Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, said Ogunmabo was arrested on August 15 in Ilisan, Ogun State, with 90 grammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis, which she allegedly sold to residents.
According to the statement, the centenarian said she turned to the illicit drug trade after her provisions shop was destroyed by fire, adding that her daughter, who lives in Lagos, supplied the cannabis to her every four days for retail distribution.
However, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), directed that Ogunmabo be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her advanced age, while her daughter was arrested.
Meanwhile, operatives in Akwa Ibom intercepted a wooden boat on August 21 allegedly transporting illicit drugs to fishing settlements in Cameroon, arresting three suspects and recovering 42.622 kilogrammes of narcotics, including 42.06kg of skunk, 1.12kg of skunk and 20 grammes of cocaine concealed inside a large wrap of fufu.
In the maritime corridor, the agency also seized two containers of cannabis indica, popularly known as Loud, shipped from Thailand through the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos, with the combined street value of the consignments estimated at more than N4.4 billion.
At Apapa Port, 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 in 54 cartons, while another container at Lekki Deep Sea Port yielded 400kg of the substance concealed among A4 paper.
The agency also reported other seizures and arrests across the country, including 24,410 tramadol pills intercepted in Abuja, 10,000kg of skunk destroyed on a four-hectare cannabis farm in Ondo State, 1.325kg of methamphetamine seized in Kwara and 4.68kg of assorted illicit substances recovered from a 65-year-old woman in Oyo State.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives arrested suspects and recovered 73.3kg of skunk in Kano, 48kg at Seme in Lagos and 14.4kg of Loud, 2.3kg of Colorado, tramadol and Rohypnol in Abia, while the agency continued its War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities.
