NDLEA Busts Brazil Cocaine Smuggling Ring as Drug-Laced Shirts, Towels Land Businessman in Trouble

By Zainab Uzomah|Abuja

A 41-year-old businessman returning from Brazil has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) after operatives discovered shirts and towels impregnated with liquid cocaine in his luggage at Lagos airport, in a nationwide crackdown that also led to the seizure of over two tonnes of illicit drugs and the arrest of several suspects across the country.

The suspect, identified as Abugu Oliver Ikechukwu, was intercepted at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, after arriving from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight on June 11.

The director of media and advocacy, Femi Babafemi said a detailed search of his luggage uncovered 14 towels and shirts soaked in liquid cocaine, dried and carefully ironed to evade detection. The concealed narcotics weighed 6.10 kilograms.

During interrogation, Abugu reportedly told investigators that he had lived in Brazil for over 14 years where he operated an African restaurant. He claimed he travelled to Nigeria to visit his wife and purchase food items for his business.

The airport arrest was one of several major operations conducted by NDLEA operatives nationwide over the past week.

In Abia State, a 60-year-old woman, Chidimma Sunday, who is physically challenged, was taken into custody after being caught with 1.8 kilograms of skunk. She was apprehended by members of the Umuosu Vigilante Group in Umuna Autonomous Community, Isialangwa North Local Government Area, and later handed over to NDLEA officers.

Similarly, in Rivers State, another person living with disability, 28-year-old Abubakar Usman, was arrested during a raid in the Rumuokoro area of Port Harcourt. Recovered from him were 400 grams of skunk, methamphetamine, tramadol, diazepam and swinol.

In Delta State, operatives uncovered a sophisticated concealment method when they arrested 36-year-old Onya Jude at Ogwashi-Uku. He was found with five gas cylinders specially modified to hide 2.8 kilograms of Loud, a potent strain of cannabis.

The anti-narcotics agency also scored major breakthroughs in northern Nigeria.

In Gombe State, two suspected notorious drug dealers, Jamilu Idris, popularly known as “Jama”, and Aminu Abdullahi, alias “Momo”, were arrested with 2.738 kilograms of skunk.

Along the Zaria-Kano highway, officers intercepted Ngozi Gaius with 6,000 tramadol pills, while another operation on the Bode Saadu Road in Kwara State led to the arrest of Nasiru Hamza and Muhammad Sani. The suspects were transporting 600 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 304 kilograms in a Toyota Jeep.

One of the biggest seizures occurred in Taraba State, where NDLEA operatives raided the warehouse of a suspected drug kingpin, Ali Adamu, in Maihula village, Bali Local Government Area. The operation yielded 63 jumbo bags of cannabis sativa weighing a staggering 1,121.5 kilograms.

In the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, operatives arrested Emmanuel Nnadi along the Gwagwalada Expressway and recovered thousands of pills of tramadol, pregabalin and molly, as well as hundreds of bottles of codeine-based syrup.

Another massive haul was recorded in Lagos, where NDLEA officers recovered 1,102 kilograms of Ghana Loud around the Alaba International Market area of Ojo.

Beyond enforcement operations, the agency intensified its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign through sensitisation programmes in schools, communities and traditional institutions across several states, including Nasarawa, Enugu, Lagos, Kano, Anambra and Rivers.

Commending officers involved in the operations, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Mohamed Buba Marwa, praised the balance between aggressive drug supply reduction efforts and preventive public enlightenment campaigns.

He urged commands across the country to sustain the momentum and continue surpassing previous operational achievements in the fight against illicit drugs