Europe-bound newlywed excretes 72 cocaine wraps at Enugu Airport
A 25-year-old newlywed businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 72 wraps of cocaine to Portugal.
Chukwulobelu, who was intercepted on Thursday, September 25, 2026, was arrested at the airport’s departure hall while preparing to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
According to the NDLEA, the suspect had ingested the cocaine and was subsequently placed under excretion observation by its operatives.
He eventually excreted all 72 wraps of the Class A illicit drug. The arrest came less than two weeks after Chukwulobelu’s wedding.
The suspect reportedly told investigators that he had returned to Nigeria from Portugal to get married on September 13, 2026, and subsequently turned to drug trafficking to offset expenses incurred during the wedding.
He said he previously operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023, where he currently resides.
The NDLEA’s latest operations also uncovered one of the agency’s biggest opioid seizures of the year at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, involving more than 2.5 million pills weighing over 1.6 tonnes.
The seizure was made on Tuesday, September 22, during a joint examination of three monitored consignments at the airport’s import shed.
The agency said its operatives recovered 2,550,000 pills comprising Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilogrammes.
The consignments originated from India and Bangladesh and were transported into Nigeria through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
In Bauchi State, NDLEA operatives arrested two men, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg.
The cannabis, according to the agency, was concealed in a false compartment at the bottom of a truck with registration number MUB757 YH.
In Edo State, NDLEA officers, supported by soldiers, also destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, on Wednesday, September 23. The farms were estimated to have a combined yield of 1,360.23kg of cannabis.
In Lagos, two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested on Saturday, September 26, during a raid on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin.
The operatives recovered 3.4kg of skunk from the suspects. On the same day, NDLEA officers intercepted a 58-year-old man, Ugwu Johnson, at Ebute-Ero Motor Park, Lagos, allegedly in possession of several consignments of illicit drugs.
The items recovered from him included 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
The agency also reported the arrest of two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, along the Iganna-Ilero Road in Iganna, Oyo State.
The suspects were arrested on Saturday, September 26, with 305.6kg of skunk concealed in two pick-up vans.
NDLEA said the two suspects were allegedly involved in a cross-border trafficking network moving cannabis sourced from Ghana into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five other suspects were arrested in connection with the transportation of 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas.
The consignment weighed 1,688.4kg and was intercepted alongside two vehicles allegedly used to convey the substance from the border into Lagos.
The suspects were identified as Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.
Beyond seizures and arrests, the NDLEA said its commands and formations across the country continued with its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns during the week.
The agency said the campaigns targeted schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities.
Among the institutions reached were Community High School, Saki, Oyo State; Auchi College, Auchi, Edo State; Alkali Modibbo Islamic Centre, Dukku, Gombe State; and Junior Arabic Secondary School, Kahu, Kibiya Local Government Area of Kano State.
The Delta Ports Command also paid a WADA advocacy visit to the Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwatshe III, in Delta State.
Commending officers and personnel of the MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi Commands for the operations, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged them to sustain the agency’s drug control efforts.
Marwa called on the officers and their colleagues across the country to maintain what he described as the agency’s balanced approach to combating illicit drug trafficking and abuse.
