Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have arrested a 101-year-old great-grandmother for dealing in illicit drugs.

The great-grandmother, identified as Esther Ogunmabo, was arrested in Ilisan, Ogun State, with retail sachets of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 90 grammes, which she claimed she sold to locals.

A statement on Sunday by the agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the centenarian told operatives that she started engaging in illicit drug trade after her provisions shop was razed by fire.

The statement partly read, “Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have recorded significant breakthroughs across the country’s land and maritime borders, including the arrest of a 101-year-old great-grandmother for dealing in illicit drugs.

“NDLEA operatives on Saturday, August 15, 2026, arrested a 101-year-old woman, Esther Ogunmabo, in Ilisan, Ogun State, with retail sachets of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 90 grams, which she claims she sells to locals.

“The centenarian told operatives that she resorted to the illicit drug trade after her provisions shop was razed by fire, adding that one of her daughters, who resides in Lagos, arranges the supply of the substance to her every four days, which she in turn sold in bits.”

Babafemi said the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), directed that the suspect be granted bail and placed on counselling because of her advanced age, while her daughter had been arrested.

In a related development, he said NDLEA operatives in Akwa Ibom State, acting on credible intelligence, intercepted a wooden boat on the high seas on Friday, August 21, conveying illicit drugs to fishing settlements in the Republic of Cameroon.

According to him, three suspects were arrested aboard the boat, which was heading to Ine Isu, Ine Mbah and Ine Ikot Itie Udung fishing ports in Cameroon, included Etima Effiong Eekpo, 29, caught with 1.120kg of skunk; Otobong Eyoh Etukudoh, 33, who had 42.060kg of skunk in his possession; and 27-year-old Kingsley Effiong John, who was found with 20 grammes of cocaine cleverly concealed inside a large wrap of edible cassava fufu, alongside 435 grammes of skunk.

“A total of 42.622kg of narcotics was recovered from the trio,” Babafemi added.