The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has rearrested an 83-year-old woman, Uloma Uchechi Sunday, with methamphetamine and Colorado, barely a year after she was convicted of drug offences.
She was picked up on Wednesday, October 7, at her residence in Ite-Uzo, Umuaguma, Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State. The substances were allegedly tied round her waist with a wrapper.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the arrest followed credible intelligence that she ran a notorious drug joint harbouring criminal elements who were terrorising the community.
Babafemi said she was first arrested on May 17, 2025, with her 32-year-old daughter, Chisom Uchechi, at the same house. Operatives recovered 50 grammes of methamphetamine, 522 grammes of skunk, 260 grammes of fresh cannabis leaves and 12 grammes of tramadol.
Both pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment or a fine of N200,000 each.
According to the agency, the woman returned to the trade after her release and expanded it by setting up a joint where dangerous characters were harboured.
In a separate operation, NDLEA officers at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Rivers State, arrested a South African, Gebashe Sithandiwe Jessie, with 30 parcels of Thai Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 32.74 kilogrammes.
The drugs were hidden in two travelling bags. Babafemi said she arrived from Thailand through Doha on Qatar Airways flight QR1431, and told investigators she had earlier trafficked through other African countries and was extending her route to Port Harcourt when she was caught.
At the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, operatives also intercepted 354,000 tablets of Tapentadol 250mg, weighing 307.20 kilogrammes, from Pakistan.
The consignment arrived on a Royal Air Maroc flight on September 29 and was placed under surveillance. A joint examination on Tuesday, October 6, found the drugs in nine cartons.
