Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a Brazil-based Nigerian businessman, Uche Franklin Onyekwere, for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the country through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
Onyekwere, 47, was apprehended on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at the arrival hall of the airport during the inward clearance of passengers on a South African Airways flight from Brazil via Johannesburg, following what the agency described as “processed intelligence.”
NDLEA operatives said the suspect was subjected to a full-body scan, which confirmed the concealment of illicit drugs.
A subsequent strip search led to the discovery of a large parcel of white powdery substance, later confirmed to be cocaine, wrapped around the suspect’s right thigh.
Further search also revealed two additional wraps of the same substance concealed in the soles of a pair of flat shoes worn by the suspect.
“In all, three large wraps of cocaine, with a gross weight of 1.60 kilograms, were recovered from his body and footwear,” the agency disclosed.
During preliminary interrogation, Onyekwere confessed that he purchased the cocaine consignment in Brazil with the intention of reselling it in Nigeria.
According to him, the proceeds were meant to raise capital to boost his business and also finance the naming ceremony of his newly born child.
The suspect, who resides at Rua Ever, Mulariuha, São Paulo, told investigators that he has lived in Brazil since 2008 and has been operating a toy business for about nine years.
In a related development, the NDLEA intercepted a massive consignment of cannabis at the Tincan seaport in Lagos.
A statement issued on Sunday, February 1, by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said 55 jumbo bags of Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis weighing 1,183 kilograms, were discovered in a container imported from Montreal, Canada.
The seizure was made on Wednesday, January 28, during a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs and other security agencies.
“The illicit consignments were concealed inside two vehicles, a Hyundai SUV and a Toyota Matrix car,” Babafemi said.
In Niger State, NDLEA operatives acting on credible intelligence intercepted a long truck marked T 31589 LA along the Dei-Dei–Abuja Expressway in the early hours of Tuesday, January 26.
Three suspects, Andy Chidogu, 49; Kenneth Ogene, 45; and Sadiq Olanrewaju, 27, were arrested for conveying 176 bags of skunk weighing 2,735 kilograms and one kilogram of Colorado, a synthetic cannabis.
Investigations revealed that Ogene, the driver, had earlier transported 800 bags of flour from Lagos to Ekpoma, Edo State, before negotiating to transport the drugs to another destination for N1.7 million.
Multiple Seizures, Arrests Across Edo, Anambra, Ondo, Kano
In Edo State, NDLEA operatives arrested Shaibu Yusuf on Tuesday, January 27, along the Auchi–Abuja Expressway while attempting to transport 66 bags of skunk concealed in charcoal bags to Katsina.
Also in Edo, NDLEA operatives, supported by personnel of the Nigerian Army, raided a cannabis farm at Ebora Camp, Ilushi, in Esan South East Local Government Area, where 4,063.675 kilograms of skunk were destroyed across over 1.6 hectares of farmland.
Recovered at the camp were 328 kilograms of processed cannabis and seeds, while suspects arrested include Jeremiah Nwodeh, 46; Chukwudi Pius, 33; Pius Ogaba, 46; and Onora Kwene, 35.
In Anambra State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a cement truck at Upper Iweka, Onitsha, on Wednesday, January 28. A search revealed 345.2 kilograms of skunk concealed with bags of cement. One of the occupants, Abum Okeke, 42, was arrested.
In Ondo State, two suspects, Tunde Ogundele, 39, and Soji Elegbelye, 46, were arrested at Eleyewo community in Akure North in connection with the seizure of 473 kilograms of skunk.
In Kano, NDLEA operatives arrested Abdullahi Usman, 45, along Murtala Mohammed Way with 12,500 ampoules of pentazocine injection, while 4,390 pills of tramadol were recovered from Musa Shuaibu, 42, in the Gaya area of the state.
More Arrests At Lagos, Seme Border
In Lagos, Oragwan Ekene was arrested on Friday, January 30, at Okeyson Park, Alaba, with 15.5 kilograms of skunk heading to Onitsha, Anambra State.
Similarly, 3.5 kilograms of skunk were recovered from a sound system and cereal packs in the luggage of Omang Peter Edward at the Seme border, Badagry, on Tuesday, January 27, as he attempted to enter Nigeria from Cotonou, Benin Republic.
Babafemi said NDLEA officers across commands also intensified the War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities nationwide.
While commending officers of the MMIA, Tincan, Niger, Lagos, Edo, Anambra, Ondo and Kano commands for their professionalism, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), urged them to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
Troops of Operation Fansan Yamma have neutralised several Lakurawa terrorists and destroyed their camps during a clearance operation in Waria Forest, Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
The operation, conducted on Thursday, October 15, also led to the recovery of weapons and five motorcycles from the terrorists’ enclave.
The Media Information Officer of the Joint Task Force North West, Operation Fansan Yamma, Lt Col Aliyu Danja, disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday.
Danja said troops of Sector 2 advanced through identified terrorist hideouts around Alela, Bilange and Kandam villages towards Waria Forest, where they made contact with the armed group.
According to him, the troops engaged the terrorists in a firefight and overpowered them with superior firepower, forcing them to abandon their positions and flee deeper into the forest.
“Troops subsequently pursued the fleeing terrorists, neutralising some of them in the process,” he said.
Danja added that further exploitation of the area destroyed the terrorists’ camps and their life-support structures, alongside the recovery of weapons and five motorcycles.
He said troops had sustained their operational presence in the area through continued clearance and domination operations aimed at denying the terrorists freedom of movement and preventing them from using the forest as a haven.
“The latest success underscores the commitment of Operation Fansan Yamma to dismantling terrorist enclaves, denying terrorist elements safe havens and restoring lasting peace and security across the Joint Operations Area,” Danja said.
He commended the troops for their courage, resilience and sustained efforts, while urging residents to provide timely and credible information about suspicious movements and activities in their communities.
Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, has warned that Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province remain major security threats in the sub-region, urging security chiefs to intensify efforts to combat insurgency.
Declaring open a two-day meeting of federal and state security administrators in Yola on Thursday, Fintiri said the threats posed by the groups remained persistent, dynamic and ideological.
“While our gallant armed forces have significantly degraded their conventional capabilities, these insurgents continue to exploit vast rural terrains, asymmetric tactics and cross-border vulnerabilities to strike at soft targets.
“However, let me speak with political candour: we cannot afford the luxury of premature victory speeches. Furthermore, we must confront emerging threats that endanger our socio-economic fabric,” he said.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Prof. Kaletapwa Farauta, said security was not merely about weapons but also grassroots presence, social justice and inclusive governance.
“It was this conviction that drove our historic decision to create seven new emirates and chiefdoms across Adamawa State,” he said.
Fintiri added that the battleground had shifted to digital spaces, where vulnerable youths were targeted for recruitment and misinformation.
He said the security of Adamawa State was inseparable from that of Nigeria and urged the Federal Government to urgently modernise the country’s international borders.
“We need the deployment of advanced surveillance technology, drone coverage, joint border patrols and the expedited establishment of one-stop border posts to control illegal cross-border migration, arms proliferation and smuggling,” he said.
The governor also urged the Federal Government to increase funding for security agencies to enable them to intensify the fight against insecurity.
“Our frontline officers, the police, the military, the Civil Defence, the DSS and Customs, are doing heroic work under difficult conditions.
“However, their operational funding, tactical equipment and welfare packages must be significantly upgraded by the Federal Government,” he said.
To defeat the insurgency, Fintiri called for genuine inter-agency cooperation and an end to rivalry among security services.
He said the operational disconnect between intelligence-gathering units and field tactical teams must be addressed.
“Victory belongs to unity, not institutional ego,” he said.
Fintiri added that hosting the meeting of the nation’s top security policy strategists reflected Adamawa’s progress in restoring peace and stability.
“For us in Adamawa State, hosting this august gathering of the nation’s top security policy strategists is not just an administrative assignment; it is a testament to our transformation.
“A few years ago, convening a gathering of this magnitude in the North-East was met with hesitation. Today, through visionary leadership, community resilience and divine grace, Adamawa stands tall as a beacon of relative peace, stability and democratic consolidation,” he said.
He challenged the security administrators to move beyond what he described as diagnostic speeches and develop an actionable, pragmatic roadmap to address security challenges in the sub-region.
He also advocated the adoption of unified digital freight and transit-tracking platforms across states and national transport corridors to eliminate illegal checkpoints, trace suspicious cargo and secure trade routes.
The governor donated 300 motorcycles and 16 security vehicles to support policing across the state’s 15 chiefdoms and 21 local government areas.
A car dealer, Chima Edmund, has accused the Lagos State Police Command of releasing a man suspected of attempting to steal a 2025 Toyota Tundra pickup worth about N130m from his showroom in the Victoria Garden City area of Lekki, Lagos State.
Edmund, founder of Mayor and Sheiks Autos, said the suspect allegedly drove the vehicle away from his showroom on Monday after posing as a prospective buyer but crashed it into a canal in the Ajiran area while attempting to escape.
The Toyota Tundra before the incident. Credit: Chima Edmund
The incident went viral on Tuesday, with the dealer estimating the cost of repairing the damaged vehicle at about N40m.
Speaking exclusively with PUNCH Metro on Thursday, Edmund said the suspect arrived at the dealership around 4pm carrying a bag and asked to inspect the pickup.
He said a junior staff member attended to the man, who requested the key to the unsold vehicle under the pretext of checking its engine.
The car dealer, Chima Edmund
“On Monday, the guy came to my outlet around 4pm. He met my junior staff and came in with a bag as a customer. He asked for the 2025 Toyota Tundra pickup, which costs around N130m, and demanded the key to check it. He dropped his bag inside it, and the staff watched him start the engine, thinking he only wanted to check it. But the man engaged the gear and drove off,” Edmund said.
According to him, the vehicle exited the dealership through a route that required a supporting slab because of the difference in elevation between the car stand and the main road.
He said the vehicle’s doors locked automatically when the suspect engaged the gear, after which he drove towards the VGC Bridge.
Edmund said his staff member pursued the vehicle but struggled to convince passers-by that the man behind the wheel was not the owner.
He alleged that the suspect drove through a residential estate in Ajah, damaged a barricade at the entrance and continued towards Chevron and Ebeano before heading to Ajiran.
“On getting to Ajiran, he could not find his way again. He realised he had driven to the end of the road, and when he could not proceed, he drove over the canal until the vehicle landed in it. That was when some boys dragged him out,” the dealer said.
Edmund said the escape attempt damaged the pickup and a barricade at the VGC entrance.
He added that he paid for repairs to the barricade and incurred expenses on the treatment of people injured during the incident, as well as the suspect’s feeding and other related costs.
The dealer said he also paid for the suspect’s medical treatment following the crash, adding that the man was not kept in a cell because of the injuries he sustained.
According to Edmund, the case was initially reported at the Ajah Police Division before being transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, where two women who identified themselves as the suspect’s mother and sister visited him.
He said the women claimed to be from Agbor, Delta State, adding that he became concerned about recovering his expenses after learning that the suspect had been released on bail.
Edmund alleged that he was pressured to withdraw the case after investigators established that the suspect had a psychiatric condition.
“I am already suspecting foul play in the police dealings because I was hurried to close the case when the man was confirmed to be a psychiatric patient. Just yesterday evening, he had been released on bail.
“For somebody who caused me such heavy damage, how am I going to bear these losses alone, knowing that the culprit has been released? Somebody attempted to steal a car from my outlet. It is sad,” he said.
The dealer appealed for assistance in recovering from the financial losses, saying preliminary estimates put the cost of repairing the damaged Toyota Tundra at about N40m.
Edmund, who said he had been in the automobile business since 1996, described the incident as unprecedented in his nearly three decades in the trade.
He said he had operated in different parts of Lagos, including Berger and FESTAC, before relocating to VGC, adding that he had never experienced a similar incident despite attending to numerous customers over the years.
He said it was difficult to identify suspicious customers by their appearance, noting that some casually dressed clients had purchased vehicles worth more than N200m from his dealership.
Edmund also dismissed suggestions that the vehicle had been left unattended with the suspect, insisting that a proper test drive should involve at least two people accompanying a prospective buyer.
On why the pickup did not have a tracking device, he said it was a new vehicle that had not yet been sold.
According to him, installing a tracker before a vehicle is purchased could require interference with its wiring system and raise concerns among prospective buyers about whether it was a Nigerian-used vehicle.
He added that the pickup had a fuel tank capacity of about 130 litres, but its fuel gauge was already on red, indicating that approximately 30 litres remained when the suspect allegedly drove it away.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Abimbola Adebisi, denied the allegation that the police had improperly released the suspect.
Adebisi said the suspect had been certified as a psychiatric patient by recognised government hospitals and competent courts, adding that the dealer withdrew the case after the information emerged during the investigation.
“The suspect is a psychiatric case, certified by recognised government hospitals and competent courts.
“All these were well known by the complainant in the course of our investigation. This prompted him to submit a withdrawal letter, whereupon the suspect was handed over to his mother for rehabilitation,” she said in a WhatsApp message to our correspondent.
However, PUNCH Metro could not independently verify the police spokesperson’s claims, as she did not provide the documents requested by the correspondent to substantiate the alleged medical certification and withdrawal of the complaint.
