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

Crime Diary

ENUGU, Nigeria (NPA) — Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 25-year-old newlywed businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, for allegedly attempting to traffic 72 wraps of cocaine to Portugal, where he resides.

According to a statement issued on Sunday, September 27, 2026, by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA Headquarters, Abuja, Chukwulobelu was intercepted by NDLEA officers at the airport’s departure hall on Thursday, September 25, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.

The agency said the suspect had ingested the cocaine and was placed under excretion observation, during which he egested a total of 72 wraps of the Class A illicit drug.

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Chukwulobelu reportedly told NDLEA that he was engaged in car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.

He said he recently returned to Nigeria and got married on September 13, 2026, adding that he resorted to the alleged criminal activity to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.

At the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday, September 22, uncovered what the agency described as one of the year’s biggest opioid seizures during a joint examination of three monitored consignments.

The agency said it seized 2,550,000 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilogrammes.

The consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.

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

The agency said the cannabis was concealed in the false bottom of a truck marked MUB757 YH.

In Edo State, NDLEA officers, supported by soldiers, destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, on Wednesday, September 23. The farms had an estimated 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, when NDLEA operatives raided Anifowoshe Street in Mushin and recovered 3.4kg of skunk.

In a separate operation in Lagos the same day, NDLEA officers intercepted a 58-year-old man, Ugwu Johnson, at Ebute-Ero motor park with what the agency described as large quantities of illicit drugs.

The items recovered included 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.

In Oyo State, two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were arrested on Saturday, September 26, along the Iganna-Ilero Road in Iganna with 305.6kg of skunk.

NDLEA said the cannabis was concealed in two pick-up vans allegedly used for a cross-border trafficking operation involving Ghana-sourced cannabis brought into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.

At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas, weighing 1,688.4kg.

The suspects, according to NDLEA, were Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.

Two vehicles allegedly used to convey the consignment from the border into Lagos were also recovered.

Meanwhile, commands and formations of the agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities during the week.

The activities included sensitisation lectures for students and staff of 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, among other activities.

While commending officers and men of the MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi Commands for the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), urged them and their colleagues nationwide to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.