NDLEA intercepts Brazil-based businessman with cocaine at Lagos airport
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a Brazil-based Nigerian businessman, Uche Franklin Onyekwere, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the country.
The arrest was disclosed in a statement issued by the agency on Sunday, which said Onyekwere, 47, was apprehended on Thursday, 29 January 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers arriving on a South African Airways flight from Brazil via Johannesburg, following intelligence-led profiling by NDLEA operatives.
A body scan confirmed illicit drug concealment, leading to a strip search during which a large parcel of a white powdery substance was found strapped to his right thigh, while two additional wraps were discovered hidden in the soles of his footwear. The substances tested positive for cocaine, with a total weight of 1.60 kilogrammes.
The suspect told investigators that he purchased the cocaine in Brazil to resell in Nigeria to raise funds for his business and the naming ceremony of his newborn child. He said he has lived in São Paulo since 2008, where he operates a toy business.
In a separate operation at the Tincan Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA officers, working with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted 55 jumbo bags of Canadian Loud cannabis weighing 1,183 kilogrammes. The drugs, imported from Montreal, Canada, were concealed inside a Hyundai SUV and a Toyota Matrix during a joint examination on Wednesday, 28 January.
In Niger State, operatives intercepted a truck along the Dei-Dei–Abuja Expressway on Tuesday, 26 January, arresting three suspects with 176 bags of skunk cannabis weighing 2,735 kilogrammes and one kilogramme of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis. Investigations showed the drugs were loaded in Ekpoma, Edo State, after the vehicle had delivered flour from Lagos.
Also in Edo State, NDLEA arrested a suspect transporting 792 kilogrammes of skunk concealed in charcoal sacks, while a raid on a cannabis farm in Esan South-East Local Government Area led to the destruction of over 4,063 kilogrammes of cannabis on 1.6 hectares of farmland and the arrest of four suspects.
Further seizures were recorded in Anambra, Ondo, Kano and Lagos states, including skunk concealed in cement trucks, the recovery of 12,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection and thousands of tramadol pills, as well as arrests at motor parks and border points. Commending the operations, NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged officers nationwide to sustain efforts in both drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction.
