Drug consignments seized across states as NDLEA arrests two octogenarians
Abdullateef Fowewe
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has apprehended two octogenarians, 80-year-old Ayuba Ashiru and 82-year-old Uloma Uchechi Sunday, as well as her 32-year-old daughter, Chisom Uchechi, in a series of nationwide raids, as opioids worth over N3.2 billion were intercepted at the Apapa and Port Harcourt ports.
Ayuba Ashiru, previously convicted for drug offences and jailed for a decade between 2014 and 2024, was re-arrested on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in the Dogarawa area of Sabon Gari Local Government Area, Kaduna State, revealed a statement on Sunday by the NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi.
Babafemi established that NDLEA operatives recovered 2.3 kilograms of skunk packaged for street sale, confirming that Ashiru admitted to being in the drug trade for 46 years.
The statement stresses, “In a separate operation in Abia State on Saturday, May 17, NDLEA raided the Umuaguma Ntigha Uzor village home of 82-year-old Uloma Uchechi and her daughter, seizing methamphetamine, tramadol, skunk, and N130,600 in cash.
“The elderly woman confessed that she and her daughter took over the illicit business after the death of her son, its original operator, two years ago.
“At the Port Harcourt Port in Onne, Rivers State, NDLEA operatives through credible intellience, discovered a container of three million pills of tapentadol and carisoprodol, valued at N2.1 billion.
“A similar interception occurred at the Apapa seaport in Lagos on Tuesday, May 13, where a shipment disguised as auto parts from India was found to contain 169,800 bottles of codeine syrup, with an estimated street value of over N1.1 billion.”
Operatives of NDLEA in Kwara, arrested two suspects identified as, Abdulwahab Quadir and Abdulraheem Ismail on Friday, May 16, with 199,200 tramadol pills, and a student of Kwara State Polytechnic, identified as, Ibrahim Abdulateef, was equally caught with 650 grams of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis.
“In Niger State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a car along Mokwa-Jebba road carrying 316 blocks of skunk (143kg), arresting a suspect identified as, Idris Kamal.
“Another patrol in the same state led to the arrest of Emmanuel Hassan, 26, with 14.3kg of Loud,with a follow-up operation leading to the arrest of Bello Aliyu, the real owner of the consignment,” Babafemi added.
NDLEA also reported the arrest of 29-year-old Ismail Isah along the Abuja-Kaduna highway with an AK-47 rifle and two magazines hidden in a sack of maize, and is being transferred to a security agency for further investigation.
