Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested several suspects for drug offences and intercepted opioids worth over N3.2 billion in raids across the country.
The seizures were made at Apapa seaport in Lagos and Port Harcourt port, Onne, Rivers State. Among the arrested suspects are two octogenarians: an 80-year-old grandfather, Ayuba Ashiru, and an 82-year-old grandmother, Mrs Uloma Uchechi Sunday, along with her daughter, Chisom Uchechi, 32.
Ashiru, who had previously been arrested and prosecuted by NDLEA for drug dealing offences, was convicted and served a 10-year jail term between 2014 and 2024.
He was arrested again on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at Barazana Street, Dogarawa area of Sabon Gari Local Council in Kaduna State by NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence.
A total of 2.3 kilogrammes of skunk, packaged in nylons and papers in retail sizes, were recovered from him. He claimed to have been involved in the illicit drug trade for the past 46 years.
Similarly, NDLEA operatives in Abia State on Saturday, May 17, raided the home of 82-year-old Mrs Uloma Uchechi Sunday at Umuaguma Ntigha Uzor village, where different quantities of methamphetamine, tramadol, and skunk, a strain of cannabis, as well as a cash exhibit of N130,600, were recovered from her and her daughter, 32-year-old Chisom Uchechi.
The spokesperson for the agency, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement yesterday that the grandmother confessed she and her daughter took over the drug trade after her son, who started the business, died two years ago.
At the Port Harcourt Ports complex in Onne, Rivers State, a total of three million pills of tapentadol and carisoprodol royal 225mg, worth N2.1 billion in street value, were intercepted in one of the containers watch-listed by the agency based on intelligence. The seizure was made on Wednesday, May 14, during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA officers.
Customs Service personnel, and other security agencies.
In a similar operation, NDLEA operatives at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on Tuesday, May 23, intercepted another watch-listed container declared to contain new car parts and accessories from India. During a joint examination with other security agencies, a total of 169,800 bottles of codeine syrup worth over N1.1 billion in street value were discovered concealed in the shipment.
In Kwara State, no fewer than 199,200 pills of tramadol were recovered from two suspects, Abdulwahab Quadir and Abdulraheem Ismail, on Friday, May 16, following their arrest at the Gegele area of Ilorin by NDLEA operatives.
The operatives also raided Favour Lodge in the state capital, where a Higher National Diploma (HND) 1 student of the Department of Laboratory Science Technology, Kwara State Polytechnic, Ibrahim Oladimeji Abdulateef, was arrested with 650 grammes of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, already measured in 149 cups, which he sells to other students.
At a courier company in Lagos, NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigation (DOGI) on Friday, May 16, intercepted 250 grammes of cocaine concealed in female headgear destined for Australia.
In Niger State, NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Mokwa-Jebba road on Thursday, May 15, intercepted a Toyota Carina car marked AGL 945 BK conveying 316 blocks of skunk weighing 143kg. A suspect, Idris Kamal, 35, was arrested.
