NDLEA Arrests Brazil-Based Nigerian At Lagos Airport With Cocaine Hidden In Pr!vate Parts, Shoes
NDLEA Arrests Brazil-Based Nigerian At Lagos Airport With Cocaine Hidden In Private Parts, Shoes
The NDLEA spokesperson said the arrest followed processed intelligence, which prompted a full body scan on the 47-year-old suspect and confirmed the presence of illicit drugs.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said that its operatives arrested a Brazil-based Nigerian businessman, Uche Franklin Onyekwere, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, with parcels of cocaine concealed in his private parts and in the soles of his footwear.
The NDLEA’s Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who made this known in a statement issued on Sunday, February 1, 2026, said Onyekwere was arrested on Thursday, January 29, during the inward clearance of passengers arriving on a South African Airways flight from Brazil via Johannesburg.
The NDLEA spokesperson said the arrest followed processed intelligence, which prompted a full body scan on the 47-year-old suspect and confirmed the presence of illicit drugs.
A subsequent strip search uncovered a large wrap of a white powdery substance, later confirmed to be cocaine, tied around his right thigh.
Further examination revealed two additional wraps hidden inside the soles of a pair of flat shoes he was wearing.
In total, Babafemi said three large wraps of cocaine weighing 1.60 kilograms were recovered from Onyekwere’s body and footwear.
Ndlea
During preliminary interrogation, Babafemi said Onyekwere admitted purchasing the drugs in Brazil with the intention of selling them in Nigeria to raise capital for his business and to finance the naming ceremony of his newly born child.
He disclosed that he resides on Rua Ever, Mulariuha, São Paulo, and that he has lived in Brazil since 2008, and has operated a toy business for about nine years.
In a related operation at the Tincan Seaport, Lagos, Babafemi stated that NDLEA officers, in a joint examination with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, discovered 55 jumbo bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, with a gross weight of 1,183 kilograms.
He said the consignment, imported from Montreal, Canada, was found hidden inside a container, concealed within a Hyundai SUV and a Toyota Matrix car.
Babafemi stated that the seizure was made on Wednesday, January 28.
In Niger State, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence intercepted a long truck with registration number T 31589 LA along the Dei-Dei–Abuja Expressway in the early hours of Tuesday, January 26.
Three suspects, Andy Chidogu, 49; Kenneth Ogene, 45; and Sadiq Olanrewaju, 27, were arrested for transporting 176 bags of skunk, a cannabis strain weighing 2,735 kilograms, alongside one kilogram of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis, concealed in the truck.
Investigations revealed that Ogene, the truck driver, had departed Lagos on January 23 with 800 bags of flour bound for Ekpoma, Edo State, arriving the following day.
He was said to have negotiated the transportation of the illicit drugs from Ekpoma for a fee of N1.7 million.
Also in Edo State, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, January 27, arrested Shaibu Yusuf along the Auchi–Abuja Expressway while attempting to secure a vehicle to transport 66 bags of skunk concealed in charcoal sacks and weighing 792 kilograms to Katsina State.
In another operation on January 28, NDLEA officers, supported by personnel of the Nigerian Army, raided a cannabis farm at Ebora Camp, Ilushi, in Esan South East Local Government Area.
Over 4,063.675 kilograms of skunk cultivated on more than 1.6 hectares of farmland were destroyed, while 328 kilograms of processed cannabis and seeds were recovered.
Four suspects, Jeremiah Nwodeh, 46; Chukwudi Pius, 33; Pius Ogaba, 46; and Onora Kwene, 35, were arrested at the site.
In Anambra State, the NDLEA spokesperson said that operatives of the agency on Wednesday, January 28, intercepted a cement truck at Upper Iweka, Onitsha, en route to Nkpor.
A search revealed that bags of cement were used to conceal 345.2 kilograms of skunk.
The drugs were linked to Abum Okeke, 42, one of the three occupants of the truck at the time of arrest.
Meanwhile, in Ondo State, two suspects, Tunde Ogundele, 39, and Soji Elegbelye, 46, were arrested on Monday, January 26, at Eleyewo community in Akure North over the seizure of 473 kilograms of skunk.
On the same day in Kano State, NDLEA officers arrested Abdullahi Usman, 45, at Murtala Mohammed Way with 12,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection.
Another suspect, Musa Shuaibu, 42, was arrested on Tuesday, January 27, in the Gaya area of Kano, where 4,390 tramadol pills were recovered.
Babafemi further stated that elsewhere in Lagos, one Oragwan Ekene was arrested on Friday, January 30, at Okeyson Park, Alaba, while allegedly conveying 15.5 kilograms of skunk to Onitsha, Anambra State.
At the Seme border in Badagry, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, January 27, recovered 3.5 kilograms of skunk concealed in a sound system and two cereal packs found in the luggage of Omang Peter Edward, who was arriving from Cotonou, Benin Republic.
