Two Brazil Returnees Excrete 116 Wraps of Heroin, Cocaine at Lagos Airport

By Micheal Chukwuebuka

Two Brazil returnees, Ofoma Sunday and Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu, have excreted a combined total of 116 wraps of heroin and cocaine after days under observatory custody, following their arrest by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

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 São Paulo, Brazil, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight. A body scan confirmed ingestion of illicit drugs. Investigations revealed that Ofoma had left Nigeria for Brazil on 3rd September to courier the consignment to Lagos for a promised reward of $2,500 upon successful delivery.

A swift follow-up operation was conducted at Eliata Hotel in the Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, where Ofoma was instructed to meet Nweke Jude Chuckwudi, who was designated to oversee the excretion of the drugs. The 55-year-old Nweke was arrested in the process. Ofoma later excreted a total of 111 wraps of heroin weighing 1.452 kilograms in eight batches.

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. A body scan confirmed illicit drug ingestion. Under observation, Ukachukwu expelled five large wraps of cocaine weighing 145 grams.

In his statement, he admitted to purchasing nine wraps of the Class A drug in Brazil, inserting them into his anus in a process he said took nearly two hours. During his transit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he experienced severe anal pain and removed the wraps. He claimed he only managed to reinsert seven wraps before flushing the remaining two down a toilet to meet his connecting flight.

While on board his flight to Nigeria, he reportedly felt pressed and expelled two wraps in the lavatory, leaving him with only five wraps in his body. The suspect further revealed that he had been in the clothing business before travelling to Brazil in 2017. In 2020, he moved to the United States, where he was arrested for an immigration offence, detained for over a year, and deported to Nigeria in 2022. He returned to Brazil in March 2025, having obtained a residence permit there.

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, arrested her at Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport for concealing illicit drugs in her underwear while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha. A search uncovered two large parcels of white crystalline substance that later tested positive for methamphetamine, with a gross weight of 1.40 kilograms. During interrogation, Ebere claimed she traded in used clothing and ran a POS business in Enugu before being recruited into the drug trade.

At the NAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport on Monday, 15th September, NDLEA operatives intercepted a consignment of food items used to conceal 40 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 2.30 kilograms, bound for Hong Kong via Turkish Airlines. A 59-year-old suspect, Umelo Ifeanyi Venatus, who presented the cargo as part of a consolidated shipment, was taken into custody.

Another consignment packaged for Europe was also intercepted by NDLEA operatives at a courier company in Lagos on Thursday, 18th September. Seven pieces of phone chargers destined for 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 separate raids, with two suspects arrested. A total of 195,600 pills were discovered in an abandoned Toyota Sienna vehicle in Mayo Belwa, Yola South, on Wednesday, 17th September. A female suspect, Rita Zira, was arrested in Jambutu, Jimeta, with 27,900 pills hidden in her bedroom, while another suspect, Halilu Abubakar, 22, was apprehended with 10,300 pills at Namtari checkpoint, Yola, on Saturday, 20th September.

In Zamfara, 109 bags of skunk, weighing 1,099.4 kilograms, were seized from 40-year-old suspect Hammed Danladi Aliyu by NDLEA operatives supported by Community Protection Guards (CPG). The drugs were being transported in a Mitsubishi Canter truck, marked LRN 568XB, along Gummi-Daki Takwas road, destined for a village called Company in Gummi LGA, on Saturday, 20th September.

Elsewhere, in Yobe State, two suspects, Babangida Usman and Ismail Ibrahim, were arrested with 14,000 capsules of tramadol along the Damaturu-Potiskum road. In Taraba, on Wednesday, 17th September, NDLEA officers arrested 28-year-old Anas Hamisu with three sacks of skunk weighing 25.525 kilograms at Garba-Chede, Bali LGA.

In Edo State, officers destroyed two cannabis farms covering 4.532 hectares at Atororo Forest, Owan West LGA, with an estimated yield of 11,330 kilograms. They also recovered 11 bags of processed skunk and seeds weighing 148 kilograms. Arrested suspects included Mathew Onoja, 56; Moses Thomas Male, 18; and Friday Uchenjin, 38.

Meanwhile, NDLEA commands across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities. These included lectures at Sultan Abdulrahman College of Health Technology, Sokoto; Sarki Abdul Primary School, Katsina; Government Secondary School, Jigawa; St Mary Junior Secondary School, Makurdi, Benue; and Ummulkhair Islamiyya, Kano. Zone 11 Command also paid an advocacy visit to the First Lady of Enugu State, Mrs Nkechinyere Mbah.

“These arrests and seizures represent a significant milestone in our determined effort to dismantle drug trafficking organisations operating in Nigeria and beyond, especially those targeting our youth population with illicit substances,” said the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), while commending officers and men of the MMIA, DOGI, Adamawa, Zamfara, Edo, Taraba, and Yobe Commands.

He urged them and their colleagues across the country to sustain the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control.