By Dennis Okechukwu
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Brazil-based Nigerian businessman, Uche Franklin Onyekwere, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the country.
Onyekwere, 47, was apprehended on Thursday, January 29, 2026, during the inward clearance of passengers on a South African Airways flight arriving from Brazil via Johannesburg. The arrest followed credible intelligence that prompted NDLEA operatives to subject the suspect to a body scan, which confirmed the presence of illicit drugs.
A subsequent search led to the recovery of three large wraps of cocaine concealed on his body and in the soles of his footwear. The total weight of the seized cocaine was 1.60 kilograms.
During preliminary interrogation, the suspect confessed to purchasing the cocaine in Brazil with plans to sell it in Nigeria to raise funds for his business and finance the naming ceremony of his newborn child. He disclosed that he has lived in São Paulo, Brazil, since 2008 and has operated a toy business for about nine years.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at the Tincan Seaport, Lagos, in a joint operation with the Nigeria Customs Service and other security agencies, intercepted 55 jumbo bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 1,183 kilograms. The drugs were imported from Montreal, Canada, and concealed inside two vehicles—a Hyundai SUV and a Toyota Matrix—hidden in a container.
In Niger State, three suspects—Andy Chidogu (49), Kenneth Ogene (45), and Sadiq Olanrewaju (27)—were arrested along the Dei-Dei–Abuja Expressway on January 26 while transporting 176 bags of skunk weighing 2,735 kilograms, alongside one kilogram of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis. Investigations revealed the drugs were loaded in Edo State after the truck initially delivered flour from Lagos.
Further operations in Edo State led to the arrest of Shaibu Yusuf, who was attempting to transport 792 kilograms of skunk concealed in charcoal bags. NDLEA operatives, with support from the Nigerian Army, also destroyed over 4,063 kilograms of cannabis cultivated on 1.6 hectares of farmland in Esan South East Local Government Area and arrested four suspects at the site.
In Anambra State, NDLEA officers intercepted a cement-laden truck in Onitsha, uncovering 345.2 kilograms of skunk concealed among cement bags. One of the occupants, Abum Okeke, 42, was arrested.
Similarly, in Ondo State, two suspects were arrested in connection with the seizure of 473 kilograms of skunk, while in Kano, NDLEA operatives recovered 12,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection and over 4,390 pills of tramadol from two suspects in separate operations.
Additional arrests were recorded in Lagos and at the Seme border in Badagry, where cannabis concealed in luggage and sound equipment was intercepted.
Across the country, NDLEA commands also intensified their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, religious centres, workplaces, and communities.
Commending officers involved in the operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged personnel nationwide to sustain the agency’s balanced strategy of drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction.
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