Video: NDLEA nabs repeat offender grandpa, businessman, busts drug-hiding mannequins

Abdullateef Fowewe

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have dismantled several illicit drug operations across Nigeria, including the arrest of an 80-year-old repeat offender and the discovery of opioids concealed in full-body mannequins.

Video: NDLEA nabs repeat offender grandpa, busts drug-hiding mannequins

In a statement issued Sunday by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media & Advocacy, the agency detailed the dramatic takedown of Jeremiah Isaiah Nkanta in Akwa Ibom State.

Barely three years after his 2022 arrest, prosecution, and two-year sentence for drug dealing, the octogenarian ex-convict was caught again on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at his Mmanta-Abak village residence.

Officers seized 5.7 kilograms of “skunk,” a potent cannabis strain.

“Notorious for illicit drug business, Nkanta was first arrested by NDLEA on 14th December 2022, prosecuted and sentenced to two years in jail by a Federal High Court in Uyo,” the statement noted.

In a separate interdiction on Friday, January 9, along the Oron-Ibaka road in Oron LGA, Akwa Ibom, 37-year-old businessman Ani Onyebuchi Romans was nabbed traveling to Cameroon with mannequins stuffed with 5.3 kilograms of tramadol pills.

The suspect, who claimed he bought the opioids in Onitsha, Anambra State, for sale abroad, had hidden them inside two full-body dummies for his clothing business. Babafemi highlighted, “NDLEA uncovers illicit drugs in full body mannequins.”

Further south in Oyo State, Thursday raids at Sasa, Ibadan, led to the arrest of 45-year-old dealer Remi Bamidele (alias ‘Aluko the Mafia’).

The operatives recovered 10.696 kilograms of high-potency cannabis strains—Colorado, Scottish Loud, Ghana Loud, Canadian Loud, and skunk—along with two vehicles: a Toyota Venza and Toyota Yaris (HG 06 LYD).

NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), praised the commands in Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Taraba, Edo, Oyo, and Niger.

He stated, “Their operational successes and those of their compatriots across the country especially their balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts are well appreciated.”