NDLEA nabs 80-year-old ex-convict, recovers drugs hidden in body mannequins

Barely three years after he was arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to two years imprisonment for dealing in illicit drugs, an 80-year-old man, Jeremiah Isaiah Nkanta, has again been nabbed by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for returning to the criminal trade.

Notorious for illicit drug business, Nkanta was first arrested by NDLEA on December 14, 2022, prosecuted and sentenced to two years in jail by a Federal High Court in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Not ready to let go the old habit, the 80-year-old man returned to the illicit drug trade and following credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives on Saturday, January 10, 2026, tracked the Octogenarian ex-convict to his Mmanta-Abak village, Abak Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

The NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, disclosed that the 80-year-old man was arrested with 5.7 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis, in his residence.

Babafemi said the NDLEA operatives, in another operation in Akwa Ibom State, intercepted a 37-year-old businessman, Ani Onyebuchi Romans, while travelling with full body mannequins for his clothing business in Cameroon.

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He noted that a search of the mannequins revealed that they were stuffed with pills of tramadol weighing 5.3 kilograms.

Babafemi disclosed that the suspect was apprehended by NDLEA officers on patrol along Oron-Ibaka road in Oron Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Friday, January 9, 2026.

Babafemi said the suspect claimed he resides in Cameroon and was returning to his base after the Christmas and New Year holidays when he was apprehended.

“It was revealed that he bought the drugs in Onitsha, Anambra State and was trafficking them to Cameroon to sell, using two mannequins to conceal the opioids,” he noted.

The Star