The Nigerian agency released a statement explaining that Esther Ogunmabo, a 101-year-old woman, was arrested on August 15th in the locality of Ilisan, Ogun State. She was detained with packages of skunk, a variety of cannabis, weighing 90 grams, allegedly selling this substance to neighbors and local residents.
According to the NDLEA, the centenarian confessed to Nigerian authorities that she began involvement in drug trade after her grocery store suffered damage due to a fire. The agency reported, in a note released to local media on Monday, that one of her daughters was responsible for supplying the drug every four days, which was then sold by Ogunmabo in small quantities.
Mohamed Buba Marwa, president of the Nigerian agency, ordered that the elderly woman be released on bail and receive psychological support, considering her advanced age, while her daughter remained in custody.
Esther Ogunmabo's arrest is part of several operations conducted by the anti-drug agency at the country's land and sea borders in West Africa.
In another incident, on Friday, Nigerian police arrested a 65-year-old woman who was in possession of a cocktail of substances containing 1.795 kilograms of Scottish Loud (a very potent cannabis variety), 1.66 kilograms of tramadol, 600 grams of codeine syrup, 125 grams of diazepam, and 50 grams of flunitrazepam, totaling 4.68 kilograms.
In Akwa Ibom State, in the southeast, the NDLEA intercepted a wooden boat at sea transporting illicit substances destined for fishing communities in Cameroon. Three individuals were captured aboard, and agents recovered 42.62 kilograms of narcotics, including skunk and 20 grams of cocaine, which were disguised inside a large package of edible cassava fufu, according to the NDLEA.
Additionally, the agency announced the first seizure of illegal drugs sent from Thailand, after intercepting two containers of marijuana at the ports of Apapa and Lekki, in Lagos. The NDLEA stated that this finding reinforces the emergence of a new trafficking route used by criminal groups to transport synthetic cannabis into the country.
