By Yemi Akinsuyi
Two Brazil returnees: Ofoma Sunday and Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu have excreted a total of 116 wraps of heroin and cocaine they ingested after days in observatory custody following their arrest by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja Lagos.
According to the Director, Media & Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, one of the suspects, 46-year-old Ofoma was arrested on Tuesday 16th September 2025 at terminal 2 of the Lagos airport upon his arrival from Laos, Brazil on an Ethiopian airlines flight.
Babafemi said he was taken for body scan which confirmed ingestion of illicit drugs.
Ofoma had left Nigeria for Brazil on 3rd September to courier the consignment to Lagos for a reward of $2,500 upon successful delivery.
“A swift follow-up operation was conducted at Eliata Hotel in Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, where Ofoma was instructed to meet Nweke Jude Chuckwudi, who was designated to oversee the excretion of the drugs at the hotel and recover them. The 55-year-old Nweke was arrested in the process. A total of 111 wraps of heroin weighing 1.452 kilograms were egested in eight excretions by Ofoma.
“Similarly, another Brazil returnee, Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu, was arrested at the Lagos airport during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines passengers from Brazil via Addis Ababa on Friday 19th September. He was taken for body scan which confirmed illicit drug insertion. Under excretion observation, Ukachukwu expelled five big wraps of cocaine weighing 145 grams.
“In his statement, he confessed to have bought nine wraps of the class A drug in Brazil and inserted all into his anus, a process he claimed took him nearly two hours. During his transit through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he said he began to experience severe anal pain and decided to remove the wraps from his body. He stated that in an attempt to meet up with his connecting flight to Nigeria, he could only manage to reinsert seven wraps, after which he flushed the remaining two wraps in a toilet.
“The suspect revealed that while on board his flight to Nigeria, he felt pressed and uncomfortable, which compelled him to use the lavatory. During the process, he expelled an additional two wraps, leaving him with only five wraps in his anus. He claimed to have been into clothing business before traveling to Brazil in 2017. In 2020, he moved to the United States, where he was arrested for immigration offence and was detained for over a year before being deported to Nigeria in 2022. In March 2025, he returned to Brazil, where he currently works, having already obtained a Brazilian residence permit.
“Meanwhile, a businesswoman, Okolonkwo Ebere Theresa was on Sunday 14th September taken into custody after Aviation Security Officers of FAAN in collaboration with NDLEA operatives attached to the screening point of terminal 2 of the Lagos airport arrested her for concealing illicit drug in her underwear while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha, Qatar. After a thorough search, two big parcels of white crystalline substance that later tested positive to methamphetamine with a gross weight of 1.40 kilograms were recovered from her butt pad underwear. During preliminary interview with Ebere, she claimed she trades in used clothing and also operates a POS business in Enugu where she was recruited into the illicit drug business.
“At the NAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives on Monday 15th September intercepted a consignment of food items used to conceal 40 wraps of methamphetamine with a total weight of 2.30 kilograms heading to Hong Kong via Turkish Airlines. A 59-year-old suspect, Umelo Ifeanyi Venatus, who presented the consignment as part of a consolidated cargo, has been taken into custody.
“Another consignment of illicit drug packaged for Europe was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at a courier company in Lagos on Thursday 18th September. During a thorough examination of the shipment, seven pieces of phone charger going to New Zealand were found to contain 257 grams of cocaine.
“In Adamawa, no fewer than 233,800 pills of tramadol were recovered by NDLEA operatives in three raids with two suspects arrested in parts of the state. A total of 195,600 pills of the opioid were recovered from an abandoned Toyota Sienna vehicle in Mayo Belwa area of Yola South on Wednesday 17th September, while a suspect Rita Zira was nabbed in Jambutu area of Jimeta Yola with 27,900 pills of tramadol discovered in her bedroom. Another suspect, Halilu Abubakar, 22, was arrested with 10,300 pills of same substance by NDLEA officers at Namtari checkpoint, Yola on Saturday 20th September.
“No less than 109 bags of skunk, a strain of cannabis, weighing 1,099.4 kilograms were seized from a suspect, Hammed Danladi Aliyu, 40, by NDLEA operatives supported by members of the Community Protection Guards (CPG) along Gummi-Daki Takwas road, Zamfara state while conveying the consignment in a Mitsubishi Canter truck marked LRN 568XB to a village called Company in Gummi LGA on Saturday 20th September.
“While two suspects: Babangida Usman and Ismail Ibrahim were arrested with 14, 000 capsules of tramadol along Damaturu-Potiskum road, Yobe state, NDLEA operatives in Taraba on Wednesday 17th September 17 nabbed Anas Hamisu, 28, with three sacks of skunk that weighed 25.525kg, at Garba-Chede, Bali LGA.
“In Edo state, two cannabis farms on 4.532025 hectares located at Atororo forest in Owan West LGA with an estimated yield of 11,330.0625kg were on Wednesday 17th September destroyed by NDLEA officers who also recovered eleven bags of processed skunk and seeds weighing 148kg. Suspects arrested at the plantations include: Mathew Onoja, 56; Moses Thomas Male, 18; and Friday Uchenjin, 38.
“With the same vigour, 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. These include: WADA sensitization lecture to students and staff of Sultan Abdulrahman College of Health Technology, Gwadabawa, Sokoto; Sarki Abdul Primary School, Dankama border town, Katsina; Government Secondary School, Gwaram, Jigawa; St. Mary Junior Secondary School, North Bank Makurdi, Benue; and Ummulkhair Islamiyya, Tudun Wada, Kano, while
Zone 11 Command of NDLEA paid a WADA advocacy visit to Enugu State First Lady, Mrs. Nkechinyere Mbah, among others.
“These arrests and seizures represent a significant milestone in our determined effort to dismantle drug trafficking organizations operating in Nigeria and around the world, prioritizing those bent on targeting our productive youth population with illicit substances until they’re no longer able to inflict harm on our communities or misrepresent our country’s image in the global space”, said the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) while commending the officers and men of MMIA, DOGI, Adamawa, Zamfara, Edo, Taraba, and Yobe Commands for the various successful operations. He enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.
