Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two Brazil returnees, Ofoma Sunday and Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu, for excreting a total of 116 wraps of heroin and cocaine they ingested.

The duo were placed under observation after their arrest at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos. One of the suspects, 46-year-old Ofoma, was arrested on Tuesday, September 6, 2025, at Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport on arrival from Laos, Brazil, aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight. He was taken for a body scan, which confirmed the ingestion of illicit drugs. Investigators revealed that Ofoma left Nigeria for Brazil on September 3 to courier the consignment to Lagos for a promised reward of $2,500 upon successful delivery.

A follow-up operation was conducted at Eliata Hotel in the Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, where Ofoma had been instructed to meet one Nweke Jude Chukwudi, who was designated to oversee the excretion of the drugs and recover them. The 55-year-old Nweke was arrested in the process. Ofoma eventually excreted a total of 111 wraps of heroin weighing 1.452 kilogrammes in eight excretions.

Similarly, another Brazil returnee, Ukachukwu Frank Ikechukwu, was arrested at the Lagos airport during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines passengers from Brazil via Addis Ababa on Friday, September 19.

He was subjected to a body scan, which confirmed illicit drug insertion. Under observation, he expelled five large wraps of cocaine weighing 145 grammes.

In his statement, Ukachukwu confessed to purchasing nine wraps of cocaine in Brazil, which he inserted into his anus in a process that took nearly two hours. During his transit through Addis Ababa, he experienced severe anal pain and decided to remove the wraps. In a bid to catch his connecting flight to Nigeria, he managed to reinsert seven wraps, flushing the remaining two down a toilet. He further revealed that while on board the flight to Lagos, he felt pressed and uncomfortable, which forced him to use the lavatory, where he expelled two additional wraps, leaving only five in his body at the time of arrest.

The suspect said he had been in the clothing business before travelling to Brazil in 2017. In 2020, he moved to the United States, where he was arrested for an immigration offence and detained for over a year before being deported to Nigeria in 2022. In March 2025, he returned to Brazil, where he has since been working, having obtained a residence permit.

Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives attached to the screening point at Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport, working in collaboration with Aviation Security officers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), have arrested a businesswoman, Okolonkwo Ebere Theresa, while she attempted to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha.

During a search, two large parcels of white crystalline substance were discovered concealed in her underwear butt pads. The substance later tested positive for methamphetamine, with a gross weight of 1.40 kilogrammes.

In a preliminary interview, Ebere, who claimed to be a dealer in used clothing and also operating a Point of Sale (PoS) business in Enugu, confessed that she was recruited into the illicit drug trade before the aborted trip.