A 93-year-old great grandpa, a 69-year-old medical doctor and a couple top the list of suspects arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for illicit drugs in the past one week.
This was as the anti-narcotic agency also recovered large consignments of illicit drugs in raids at the FCT, Lagos, Borno, Ogun, Imo, Abia and Edo states.
The arrests and recoveries were stated in a press release, on Sunday, by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
NDLEA remained unrelented in its offensive action and crackdown on on drug cartels and their collaborators in intelligence-led interdiction operations across the country.
The 93-year-old great grandpa, Pa Friday Ahukanna Chigbu, was arrested in one of such operations, at his home in Umuagbaigba, Amavo Nkwogu Village, Osisioma Local Government Area of Abia State, last Tuesday.
As stated in the press release, a search of the residence of the Great grandpa led to the recovery of 7.7 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis.
The suspect claimed he had worked as a truck pusher but later learnt painting and tiling before going into the illicit drug business over a year ago.
The 93-year-old great grandpa further claimed he had been smoking skunk since 1959 before turning it into business.
Inba related development, 69-year-old medical doctor, Dr. Chudi Daniel Ofomata, was arrested on 27 March, 2026 in a follow-up operation in Ogun State.
His arrest was consequent to efforts to unravel local collaborators of an international drug syndicate following the arrest of an Ivorian, Michael Gohouri (41), at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
The Ivorian (also known as Anunwa Onyinye Michael), who was caught with 82 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.49kg, was arrested on Monday, 16 February, 2026 during the outward clearance of passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET940 to Milan, Malpensa, via Addis Ababa.
Gohouri had arrived Lagos from Milan, Italy on 17 January, 2026 and was shuttling from Lagos to Enugu for three weeks.
He later travelled to Kano where he stayed for a week before ingesting the cocaine consignment in his hotel room. He was expected to be paid 5,000 Euros when he delivered the drugs in Milan.
Further investigation by NDLEA revealed that Gohouri had a shadowy figure behind the scene, giving him instructions on how to move the cocaine consignment through the airport.
The hidden figure behind Gohouri was eventually discovered to be the 69-year-old Dr. Chudi Daniel Ofomata who was later tracked and traced to his residence at Teachers’ Land Estate, Magboro, Obafemi Owode LGA, Ogun State.
The medical doctor was arrested at his Ogun State residence on 27 March, 2026 and was flown to Kano on Tuesday, 7 April.
Recovered from the medical doctor at the point of his arrest included 63grams of promazepam and seven ampoules of promethazine injection.
In Niger State, NDLEA operatives, Thursday, arrested a couple: Abdullahi Umar (32), and his wife, Adama Umar (25), during a search of their home at Takuti Village, Lapai Local Government Area.
118 kilograms of skunk were found in and recovered from the kitchen of the arrested couple.
Three suspects, Azeez Sanni, Olayinka Oke and Adekunle Adeyemi were arrested with 34 kilograms of skunk when NDLEA operatives raided Sango Under bridge, Sango Ota, Ogun State, on Tuesday.
In the same vein, 56.2kg of the same substance was recovered from a female suspect, Ayoka Akinwale (26), along Onitsha-Owerri Road, Owerri, Imo State, on Saturday.
NDLEA officers recovered no fewer than 42,290 tablets of Rohypnol; 82,700 mils of codeine syrup and 10,000 mils of Pentazocine injection from a trailer loaded with vehicle spare parts coming from Nnewi, Anambra State.
The NDLEA operatives were on patrol at Njimtilo along Damaturu-Maiduguri Road, Borno State, just as the owner of the consignment, Eleje Ibeabuchi (43), was arrested in a follow-up operation.
In Lagos, NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence, on Tuesday, intercepted a Chisco Transport luxury bus marked AGU 442 XB going to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, along Lagos–Ibadan expressway.
A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 15 kilograms of Scottish Loud, a strong strain of cannabis, concealed in one of the compartments of the bus.
Two suspects: Kingsley Nsofor and Opara Ifeanyi were promptly arrested.
In another interdiction operation in Lagos, NDLEA officers, on Saturday, in the Mushin area, intercepted a truck conveying assorted goods going to Onitsha, Anambra State.
A search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 26,800 bottles of codeine-based syrup and the subsequent arrest of two suspects: Adesunloye Dada and Chibuzor Chime.
A raid of the Tora Bora notorious drug joint in Abuja by NDLEA operatives, on Saturday, led to the arrest of eight suspects: Abubakar Muhammad; Ali Isiaka; Obed Moses; Ibrahim Musa; Attahiru Audu; Kabiru Buhari; Oloruntoba Samuel; and Ellah Gyandi.
A combined total of 11.516 kilograms of skunk were seized from the eight suspects.
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives, working on actionable intelligence, on Saturday, intercepted two long trucks marked LUY 172 XC and LUY 281 XC with bags of processed skunk concealed among cartons of beer along Warrake Road, Auchi.
One of the trucks was found to contain 3,900 kilograms of skunk, while the second had 3,345 kilograms, bringing the total weight to 7,245 kilograms.
Five suspects arrested in connection with the seizure included Ibrahim Abu (29); Abu Abdullazeez (28); Jibril Jaminu (35); Andrew Moses (22), and Ganiyu Abu (21).
The consignments were reportedly loaded at Sabongida-Ora in Owan West LGA and heading to Abuja when they were intercepted.
The War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities continued across commands and formations of the agency all over the country in the past week.
Some of these included WADA sensitisation lecture to students and staff of Child Best School, Ikorodu, Lagos; Government Science Secondary School, Ajaokuta, Kogi State; Community Girls Secondary School, Danja, Katsina State;
Government Girls Secondary School, Dabo, Kano; drivers, passengers and park workers at Oban-Aningheje motor park, Calabar, Cross River State and members of Anglican Youths Fellowship Diocese, Okinin, Osun State, among others.
NDLEA Chairman/CEO, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), has commending the officers and men of the MAKIA, Abia, Lagos, Imo, Borno, Ogun, Niger, Edo, and FCT commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week.
He equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
