NDLEA foils major drug smuggling operations as Brazil returnees excrete 116 drug wraps

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have recorded a major breakthrough in the fight against drug trafficking, arresting two returnees from Brazil who excreted a combined total of 116 wraps of heroin and cocaine after ingesting the drugs.

The suspects, identified as Ofoma Sunday and Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu, were arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, following intelligence-led profiling and body scans that confirmed the ingestion of illicit substances.

NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed the arrests in a statement on Sunday. He said 46-year-old Ofoma Sunday was apprehended on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, at Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport upon arrival on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Brazil via Addis Ababa. A body scan revealed that he had ingested multiple wraps of drugs.

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Investigations showed that Ofoma had travelled to Brazil on September 3 to courier the drugs to Lagos in exchange for a promised payment of $2,500. Acting on further intelligence, NDLEA operatives carried out a follow-up operation at Eliata Hotel in the Amuwo-Odofin area of Lagos, where one Nweke Jude Chuckwudi, 55, was arrested while attempting to supervise the recovery of the drugs.

Ofoma subsequently excreted 111 wraps of heroin, weighing a total of 1.452 kilograms, in eight separate excretions while under observation.

In a similar operation, Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu was arrested on Friday, September 19, during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines passengers arriving from Brazil. A body scan confirmed he had inserted drugs into his body. Under medical observation, he expelled five large wraps of cocaine weighing 145 grams.

Ukachukwu confessed that he purchased nine wraps of cocaine in Brazil and inserted them into his anus, a process he said took nearly two hours. He added that severe pain during transit through Addis Ababa forced him to remove some of the wraps, flushing two of them in a toilet. He managed to reinsert seven before continuing his journey, but later expelled two more during the flight to Nigeria, leaving only five wraps in his body at the time of arrest.

READ ALSO: NDLEA uncovers narcotics concealed in snails, clothing, lighting bulbs bound for US, UK, others

He told NDLEA officers that he had previously engaged in clothing business before travelling to Brazil in 2017, later moving to the United States in 2020 where he was detained for an immigration offence and deported to Nigeria in 2022. He returned to Brazil in March 2025 and currently holds a Brazilian residence permit.

In another airport interception, a businesswoman, Okolonkwo Ebere Theresa, was arrested on Sunday, September 14, at Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha. NDLEA operatives, in collaboration with Aviation Security officers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), discovered two large parcels of methamphetamine weighing 1.40 kilograms concealed in her butt-pad underwear. She claimed she was recruited into drug trafficking while operating a used-clothing and POS business in Enugu.

At the NAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport, NDLEA officers on Monday, September 15, intercepted 40 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 2.30 kilograms concealed in food items bound for Hong Kong via Turkish Airlines. A 59-year-old suspect, Umelo Ifeanyi Venatus, was arrested in connection with the shipment.

READ ALSO: NDLEA smashes drug cartel, arrests 3 kingpins, intercepts ₦5.3bn cocaine

Similarly, on Thursday, September 18, NDLEA operatives intercepted a consignment at a courier company in Lagos where seven phone chargers destined for New Zealand were found to contain 257 grams of cocaine.

Beyond Lagos, NDLEA recorded significant seizures across several states. In Adamawa State, operatives recovered 233,800 pills of tramadol in three separate operations, arresting multiple suspects. In Zamfara State, 109 bags of skunk weighing 1,099.4 kilograms were seized from a suspect transporting the drugs in a truck. Arrests and seizures were also recorded in Yobe, Taraba, and Edo states, where cannabis farms covering over 4.5 hectares were destroyed and several suspects arrested.

Meanwhile, NDLEA commands nationwide intensified their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, communities, and institutions, including advocacy visits and lectures across Sokoto, Katsina, Jigawa, Benue, Kano, and Enugu states.

READ ALSO: NDLEA intercepts cocaine hidden in mirrors, lipsticks

Commending the officers involved, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), described the arrests and seizures as a significant milestone in dismantling drug trafficking networks. He urged NDLEA personnel across the country to sustain the agency’s balanced approach of drug supply reduction and demand reduction to protect communities and Nigeria’s global image.

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