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 South African Airways passengers arriving from Brazil via Johannesburg. Acting on processed intelligence, NDLEA officers subjected him to a body scan, which confirmed the presence of concealed illicit drugs.
A subsequent search led to the recovery of three large wraps of cocaine weighing a total of 1.60 kilograms. The drugs were concealed on his body and inside the soles of his footwear. During preliminary interrogation, the suspect disclosed that he bought the cocaine in Brazil to resell in Nigeria to raise funds for his business and his newborn child’s naming ceremony. He said he had lived in São Paulo since 2008 and had been running a toy business for about nine years.
In a separate operation at the Tincan Seaport in Lagos, NDLEA officers, in collaboration with Customs and other security agencies, intercepted 55 jumbo bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, weighing 1,183 kilograms. The consignment, imported from Montreal, Canada, was concealed inside a container carrying two vehicles — a Hyundai SUV and a Toyota Matrix.
Across several states, NDLEA recorded multiple major seizures. In Niger State, operatives intercepted a truck along the Dei-Dei–Abuja Expressway and arrested three suspects with 176 bags of skunk weighing 2,735 kilograms, along with one kilogram of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis. Investigations revealed the drugs were picked up in Edo State after the truck had delivered a consignment of flour.
In Edo State, NDLEA arrested a suspect attempting to transport 792 kilograms of skunk concealed in charcoal bags, while another operation led to the destruction of over 4,000 kilograms of cannabis cultivated on more than 1.6 hectares of farmland in Esan South East Local Government Area. Four suspects were arrested during the raid.
In Anambra State, officers intercepted a cement truck in Onitsha and recovered 345.2 kilograms of skunk hidden among bags of cement. Two suspects were arrested in Ondo State with 473 kilograms of skunk, while in Kano, NDLEA operatives recovered 12,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection and thousands of tramadol pills from two suspects.
Additional arrests were made in Lagos and at the Seme border in Badagry, where suspects were found with various quantities of cannabis concealed in luggage and personal effects.
In total, the agency said over 9,939 kilograms of cannabis varieties, including Loud, skunk and Colorado, were seized during the nationwide operations.
Meanwhile, NDLEA said its officers continued anti-drug sensitisation campaigns under the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) initiative across schools, communities and religious centres nationwide.
Commending the officers involved in the operations, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged personnel across the country to sustain a balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.