The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has recorded major breakthroughs across land and maritime borders, including the seizure of synthetic cannabis, Loud, valued at over N4.4 billion at the Apapa and Lekki ports in Lagos. In a startling arrest on Saturday, August 15, 2026, operatives nabbed 101-year-old Esther Ogunmabo in Ilisan, Ogun State, with 90 grams of skunk. The centenarian said she turned to the trade after her provisions shop was burnt down, with supplies sent every four days by a daughter in Lagos. NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) ordered that she be granted bail and placed on counselling due to her age, while her daughter has been arrested.
At sea, NDLEA operatives in Akwa Ibom intercepted a wooden boat on August 21 heading to Cameroon with three suspects and 42.622kg of drugs. One suspect, Kingsley Effiong John, 27, was caught with 20 grams of cocaine concealed inside a wrap of cassava fufu and 435 grams of skunk. In the nation’s ports, the Agency recorded its first seizure of drugs shipped from Thailand. A joint examination at Apapa Port on August 21 uncovered 1,090.5kg of Thai Loud hidden in a container declared as dry fish and spare parts. At Lekki Deep Sea Port on August 19, 400kg of Loud was found in four of seven pallets, with A4 paper used to conceal the consignment. Both containers originated from Laem Chabang, Thailand.
Other operations saw a 65-year-old woman, Adebayo Kaosarat, arrested in Ibadan with 4.68kg of assorted drugs; 73.3kg of skunk recovered in Kano; and three family members arrested at Seme, Lagos with 48kg of skunk. In Ondo, operatives destroyed 10,000kg of skunk on a 4-hectare farm in Ijare forest, and seized 210kg in Akure North. In the FCT, 24,410 tramadol pills were intercepted in a bus from Enugu, leading to the arrest of the owner in Niger State. NDLEA also sustained its WADA sensitization in schools and communities nationwide. Marwa commended Commands in Ogun, Apapa, Lekki, Seme, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Abia and FCT, and urged officers to maintain the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
