Nigeria drug agency re-arrests 83-year-old over drugs

Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said Sunday it had re-arrested 83-year-old Uloma Uchechi Sunday over illegal drugs, about a year after she was convicted of a similar offence.

The agency said officers arrested her on October 7 in a village in southeastern Abia state after a tip-off. It said she had two grammes of cannabis and seven grammes of methamphetamine, with methamphetamine and synthetic cannabis strapped around her waist.

NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi said Uchechi Sunday had previously been arrested, prosecuted and convicted alongside her 32-year-old daughter for possessing various amounts of methamphetamine, tramadol, fresh cannabis leaves and synthetic cannabis.

The agency said she pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to either one year in jail or a 200,000 naira fine, equal to about $150. It said she paid the fine and was released.

Babafemi also alleged that she returned to the drug trade and set up a drug joint. The allegation has not been tested in court in the supplied information.

Nigeria is considered a trafficking and production hub for drugs bound for other countries, while researchers and healthcare workers say some of the contraband enters local markets. A 2024 UN Office on Drugs and Crime report said heroin and methamphetamine from Asia also pass through West Africa on routes from east and southern Africa towards Europe.