It will surely be a cold and bleak Christmas for a 70-year-old Lagos-based grandmother, and her son as eagle-eyed operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, swooped on their Mushin home and seized 117.9 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa.
According to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, the matriarch of the illicit business, Madam Selifat Funke Cole, 70, and her son, Babajide Ayorinde Cole, were arrested by the anti-narcotics agency on Thursday, December 21, 2023.
The arrest of the grandma of illicit drugs sent shockwaves through the Lagos and its environs, with many people wondering what does a 70-year-old wants doing crime?
The NDLEA, according to the release by Babafemi, made a harvest of arrests at Yuletide as its operatives continue to crack down on drug trafficking across Nigeria, with drug busts in Edo, Delta and Anambra states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where a waybill consignment of 25,000 pills of tramadol was intercepted.
In Anambra, two suspects were apprehended at the Onitsha head bridge with a cache of tramadol capsules, codeine bottles, rohypnol tablets, and designer drugs. In Delta State, a joint operation with the military led to the recovery of 353kg of cannabis from the home of a drug kingpin in Abbi town, while Enugu operatives discovered 435.1kg of cannabis in a warehouse in Trans Ekulu.
Additionally, in Edo State, five individuals impersonating NDLEA officers were arrested with a fabricated gun and codeine-based syrup. The Commands across the country combined drug supply reduction operations with War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaigns targeting schools, markets, worship centres, and communities.
