By Attah Ede
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has apprehended a wanted 65-year-old female drug kingpin identified as Fatima IIori popularly known as Mama Kerosine, a major illicit drug distributor in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
The anti drug agency said that the grandma, was arrested following an intelligence-led operation that led to the seizure of 238.4kg skunk, a strain of cannabis, connected to her.
She was arrested alongside another female suspect Olusanya Abosede, 35, at Onireke/Elekuro area of Ibadan.
Furthermore, the operatives have intercepted various quantities of illicit substances including Ketamine, Ecstasy and Tramadol pills concealed in sachets of coffee mix and book parcel heading to Zambia and the United Kingdom.
The Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Femi BabaFemi who disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, said the seizures were made at a courier company in Lagos on 24th and 29th December 2025.
He said the Agency has also taken into custody 22 Indian crew members of a merchant vessel, MV Aruna Hulya, in which 31.5 kilograms of cocaine were seized by operatives at the GDNL terminal, Apapa port Lagos last Friday, January 2, 2026.
He said those detained in connection with the discovery of the 31.5kg cocaine in hatch 3 of the ship which originated from Marshall Islands, include; the Master of the Vessel, Sharma Shashi Bhushan and 21 other crew members, namely: Bharati Manoj Kumar; Bhalerao Nilesh Mukund; Nadar Anthony Macson David; Kolusu Srinivasa Rao; Sagar Gaurav; Francis Anto Beemas Nester; Jagdeep Singh; Jai Parkash; Prabhukhan Singh; Nevage Sandesh Suresh; Pandey Prashant; Nittu Anand; Akash Babu; Dasari Raju; Reddy Nandika Sanjeeba; Rana Nivesh; Melethil Insaf Rahman; Barla Chantanya Krishna; Ghosh Arijit; Mondal Raihan; and
Gangwar Shiv Om.
The statement noted that while one of the suspects, Isa Mohammed, 26, was arrested by NDLEA operatives following the interception of 9,150 ampoules of Tramadol Injection along Maiduguri-Gamboru Ngala road on Friday 2nd January 2026, the other suspect Musa Samaila, 30, was nabbed with 34,000 capsules of Tramadol at Biu market same day.
According to BabaFemi, no fewer than 400kg skunk was recovered along with a van at Mobolaji Johnson area of Lagos on new year day, Thursday 1st January, while a suspect Bilya Ibrahim, 39, was arrested at a motor park in Hadejia town, Jigawa State on Tuesday 30th December 2025 while trying to transport 260 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 140.8kg, which he procured from Taraba State to Nguru, Yobe State.
In Kwara state, NDLEA officers on Tuesday 30th December recovered 238.50kg skunk from the home of a suspect at Asadam area of Ilorin, while a total of 32,000 pills of tramadol and diazepam were seized from another suspect Abubakar Rabiu, 32, at Bode Saadu, Morro LGA, on new year eve, Wednesday 31st December 2025.
In like manner, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, Apapa, Oyo, Borno, Lagos, Kwara and Jigawa Commands for the arrests, and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to intensify the ongoing drug control efforts of the Agency.
