NDLEA Arrests 83-Year-Old Grandfather, 78-Year-Old in Sweeping Nationwide Drug Crackdown

NDLEA operatives have arrested an 83-year-old grandfather and a 78-year-old man among dozens of suspects in a nationwide drug crackdown spanning Abia, Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa, Lagos, and Edo states.

The agency said Pa John Ofiel was caught at Samek by Powerline in Aba, Abia State, on April 28 with 700 grammes of skunk packed in retail sachets. He told investigators he had been a shoemaker before turning to drug dealing.

Two days later in Ekiti State, 78-year-old Ogunjobi Samuel was arrested at his Ilupeju-Ekiti home. Officers found 350 grammes of skunk on him.

The sweep stretched to Oyo State, where two women — Rebecca King, 24, and Olaniyan Opeyemi, 31 — were caught with 1.925 kilogrammes of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis variant. King was intercepted along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; Opeyemi was picked up at Iwo Road while trying to collect the shipment.

In Ibadan, a dealer who had evaded capture for months — Taofik Adeyemi, 49 — was finally arrested Saturday at his Erunmu residence alongside associate Mustapha Oyerinde, 28. Operatives recovered 3.085 kilogrammes of skunk and a Toyota Camry. Two of Adeyemi’s alleged accomplices had already been nabbed in December 2025 and are facing prosecution.

Further north, the numbers got bigger. In Borno State, 27-year-old Yahaya Shehu was found with 76,440 pills of Tramadol along the Damaturu-Maiduguri road. Another Borno operation netted 14,000 Tramadol capsules from truck driver Magaji Isa, 30, with owner Abdulhamid Mahmud, 28, arrested in a follow-up in Biu.

On the Abuja-Jos highway in Kaduna, officers intercepted 290 kilogrammes of compressed cannabis from Ojo Major Ebose, 36, and Chika Obiechefula, 32. In Hadejia, Jigawa State, 49,800 Tramadol capsules were seized from Ahmed Garba, 50, and Sale Mohammed, 41.

Lagos saw the largest single haul: 740 kilogrammes of skunk recovered from Awolowo Market in Mushin. In Edo State, Godstime Godspower was arrested with a mix of substances including Loud, Colorado, Tramadol, Swinol, and methamphetamine.

NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi disclosed the arrests in a Sunday statement. Chairman Buba Marwa commended the officers and said the agency would continue its two-pronged approach — aggressive supply disruption and sustained public education through the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign.

The arrests, particularly of elderly suspects, signal that the drug trade in Nigeria is drawing participants from every age bracket even as enforcement pressure intensifies.

Sources: ThisDay, The Sun, Leadership