A 25-year-old businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly attempting to smuggle cocaine into Portugal barely two weeks after his wedding.
Chukwulobelu was intercepted at the departure hall of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on Thursday, September 25, as he prepared to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa. This is according to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
Investigators said the suspect had ingested 72 wraps of cocaine before travel and was placed under excretion observation following his arrest. He later excreted all 72 wraps of the Class A substance. He was still wearing his wedding ring at the time of arrest.
According to the NDLEA, Chukwulobelu said he previously ran a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023. He had returned to Nigeria and married on September 13, 2026, and allegedly turned to trafficking to offset wedding expenses.
2.55 million opioid pills intercepted in Lagos
In a separate operation, NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, seized 2,550,000 opioid pills — Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg — with a combined weight of 1,640.55kg. The consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh via Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
262kg cannabis destroyed in Bauchi; two farms razed in Edo
In Bauchi State, officers arrested Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg, concealed in the false bottom of a truck. Separately, NDLEA personnel, backed by soldiers, destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, Edo State, with an estimated yield of 1,360.23kg.
Lagos raids net drug suspects, pentazocine, tramadol
In Mushin, Lagos, two women — Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40 — were arrested on Saturday with 3.4kg of skunk. At Ebute-Ero motor park, 58-year-old Ugwu Johnson was arrested with 5.92kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 tramadol pills.
Two Togolese held with 305kg cannabis; laughing gas seized at Seme border
Along the Iganna-Ilero road in Oyo State, two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were arrested with 305.6kg of skunk allegedly sourced from Ghana and being trafficked into Nigeria. At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects — Kingsley John, John Chibuike Okeke, Lamidi Ismaila, Babatunde Samuel and Afeesu Idowu — were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) weighing 1,688.4kg, alongside two seized vehicles.
Sensitisation campaigns continue nationwide
NDLEA said its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaigns held across schools, worship centres and communities in Oyo, Edo, Gombe and Kano states during the week, alongside an advocacy visit to the Olu of Warri in Delta State.
NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended officers across the affected commands and urged them to sustain the agency’s enforcement drive.
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