Europe-bound groom excretes 72 wraps of cocaine at Enugu airport

…As NDLEA seizes 2.55m opioid pills, arrests 58-year-old man, two women, five others in Lagos

By Adebola Muili

A 25-year-old newlywed businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly attempting to smuggle 72 wraps of cocaine to Portugal.

Chukwulobelu was intercepted at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on September 25, 2026, while preparing to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.

The NDLEA, in a statement by its Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect had ingested the cocaine and was subsequently kept under observation until he expelled all 72 wraps of the illicit drug.

The suspect was reportedly wearing his wedding ring when he was stopped by the anti-narcotics operatives.

The agency said Chukwulobelu told investigators that he had operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.

He had returned to Nigeria for his wedding on September 13, but allegedly resorted to drug trafficking in an attempt to recover money spent on the ceremony.

In Lagos, the NDLEA also intercepted three consignments containing 2.55 million opioid pills at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.

The seizure, made during a joint examination on September 22, comprised Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55kg.

The consignments were brought into the country from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.

The NDLEA described the seizure as one of its largest opioid recoveries of the year.

Also in Lagos, two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested during an operation on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, on September 26, with 3.4kg of skunk recovered.

At Ebute-Ero motor park on the same day, operatives arrested 58-year-old Ugwu Johnson, from whom they recovered 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.

At the Seme border in Badagry, five suspects were arrested over a consignment of 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, commonly called laughing gas, weighing 1,688.4kg.

The suspects are Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47. Two vehicles allegedly used to move the consignment from the border towards Lagos were also recovered.

In Oyo State, the agency arrested two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, along the Iganna-Ilero road, Iganna, with 305.6kg of skunk.

The cannabis was allegedly concealed inside two pick-up vans, which the NDLEA said were being used in a cross-border trafficking operation to move cannabis sourced from Ghana into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.

In Bauchi, operatives arrested Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg.

The consignment was allegedly hidden in a false compartment beneath a truck marked MUB757 YH.

Meanwhile, two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, Edo State, were destroyed by NDLEA operatives working with soldiers on September 23.

The farms had an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23kg of cannabis, according to the agency.

Beyond the arrests and seizures, the NDLEA said its commands and formations continued drug abuse prevention campaigns under its War Against Drug Abuse initiative during the week.

The sensitisation activities covered schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities in Oyo, Edo, Gombe and Kano states, while the Delta Ports Command also carried out an advocacy visit to the Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwatshe III.

NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended personnel involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.