An 80-year-old former convict, Ayuba Ashiru, and 82-year-old Mrs Uloma Uchechi Sunday have been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in separate operations.
The agency said it seized opioids valued at over N3.2 billion at the Apapa Seaport in Lagos and the Port Harcourt Port in Onne, Rivers State.
Ayuba Ashiru, who previously served a 10-year prison sentence for drug offences between 2014 and 2024, was apprehended again on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in the Dogarawa area of Sabon Gari Local Government Area, Kaduna State.
NDLEA officers recovered 2.3 kilogrammes of skunk packaged in retail-sized nylons and paper from him.
He stated, “I have been in the illicit drug trade for the past 46 years.”
This was contained in a statement signed by Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy, on Sunday.
In Abia State, operatives raided the home of Mrs Uloma Uchechi Sunday on Saturday, May 17 at Umuaguma Ntigha Uzor village. Methamphetamine, tramadol, skunk, and N130,600 in cash were recovered from her and her daughter, 32-year-old Chisom Uchechi.
Mrs Uchechi Sunday admitted that 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, NDLEA intercepted three million pills of tapentadol and carisoprodol royal 225mg, with a street value of N2.1 billion, during a joint container examination on Wednesday, May 14.
Similarly, at Apapa seaport in Lagos on Tuesday, May 13, 169,800 bottles of codeine syrup worth over N1.1 billion were seized from a container declared as carrying car parts from India.
Other arrests were made across Niger, Kwara, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Taraba, and Lagos states involving tramadol, cannabis, and skunk.
