By Winifred Bosa

Two Brazil returnees have excreted a total of 116 wraps of heroin and cocaine they ingested after days in observatory custody following their arrest by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

The agency said one of the suspects, Ofoma Sunday, aged 46, was arrested on Tuesday, September 16, 2025, at Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport upon his arrival from Laos, Brazil, on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

“He was taken for a body scan, which confirmed ingestion of illicit drugs. Ofoma had left Nigeria for Brazil on September 3 to courier the consignment to Lagos for a reward of $2,500 upon successful delivery.

“A swift follow-up operation was conducted at Eliata Hotel in Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, where Ofoma was instructed to meet Nweke Jude Chuckwudi, who was designated to oversee the excretion of the drugs at the hotel and recover them.

“The 55-year-old Nweke was arrested in the process. A total of 111 wraps of heroin weighing 1.452 kilograms were egested in eight excretions by Ofoma,” a statement by the agency’s spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, partly read.

Similarly, the NDLEA stated that another Brazil returnee it identified as 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.

According to the agency, he was taken for a body scan, which confirmed illicit drug insertion, while the suspect, under excretion observation, expelled five big wraps of cocaine weighing 145 grams.

“In his statement, he confessed to having bought nine wraps of the class A drug in Brazil and inserted all into his anus, a process he claimed took him nearly two hours.

“During his transit through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he said he began to experience severe anal pain and decided to remove the wraps from his body.

“He stated that in an attempt to meet up with his connecting flight to Nigeria, he could only manage to reinsert seven wraps, after which he flushed the remaining two wraps in a toilet,” it added.

The suspect was said to have revealed that while on board his flight to Nigeria, he felt uncomfortable, which compelled him to use the lavatory, during which “he expelled an additional two wraps, leaving him with only five wraps in his anus”.

“He claimed to have been in the clothing business before traveling to Brazil in 2017. In 2020, he moved to the United States, where he was arrested for an immigration offence and was detained for over a year before being deported to Nigeria in 2022.

“In March 2025, he returned to Brazil, where he currently works, having already obtained a Brazilian residence permit,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, a businesswoman was taken into custody on Sunday, September 14, after aviation security officers of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, in collaboration with NDLEA operatives attached to the screening point of Terminal 2 of the Lagos airport, arrested her for concealing illicit drugs in her underwear while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha, Qatar.

The NDLEA said after a thorough search, two big parcels of white crystalline substance that later tested positive for methamphetamine with a gross weight of 1.40 kilograms were recovered from the butt-pad underwear of the suspect, who was identified as Okolonkwo Theresa.

The statement added, “During a preliminary interview with Ebere, she claimed she trades in used clothing and also operates a POS business in Enugu, where she was recruited into the illicit drug business.

“At the NAHCO export shed of the Lagos airport, NDLEA operatives on Monday, September 15, intercepted a consignment of food items used to conceal 40 wraps of methamphetamine with a total weight of 2.30 kilograms heading to Hong Kong via Turkish Airlines.

“A 59-year-old suspect, Umelo Ifeanyi Venatus, who presented the consignment as part of a consolidated cargo, has been taken into custody.”