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, Enugu, for allegedly attempting to traffic 72 wraps of cocaine to Portugal.
Chukwulobelu was intercepted at the airport’s departure hall on September 25 while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
According to the NDLEA, officers suspected that he had ingested cocaine and placed him under excretion observation.
He subsequently egested 72 wraps of the Class A illicit drug, the agency said.
NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said the suspect was wearing his wedding ring when he was arrested.
The agency said Chukwulobelu told investigators that he previously operated a car-decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.
He had recently returned to Nigeria and got married on September 13.
According to the NDLEA, the suspect said he resorted to drug trafficking to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.
The arrest formed part of a wider series of operations reported by the agency across the country.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, NDLEA officers intercepted 2.55 million opioid tablets weighing 1,640.55kg.
The agency said the seizure comprised Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg found during examination of three monitored consignments imported from India and Bangladesh.
The consignments arrived through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
In Bauchi State, NDLEA operatives arrested Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg.
The cannabis was allegedly concealed in the false bottom of a truck along the Maiduguri bypass.
In Edo State, two cannabis farms with an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23kg were destroyed at Eko Camp, Ilushi, by NDLEA officers supported by soldiers.
Lagos operations also produced multiple arrests.
Two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested at Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, with 3.4kg of skunk.
Another suspect, Ugwu Johnson, 58, was intercepted at Ebute-Ero motor park with 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
In Oyo State, two Togolese nationals were arrested along the Iganna-Ilero road with 305.6kg of skunk allegedly concealed in two pickup vans.
The NDLEA identified the suspects as Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, and said they were allegedly involved in a cross-border trafficking operation moving Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria.
At the Seme border in Badagry, five suspects were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide weighing 1,688.4kg.
Two vehicles allegedly used to transport the consignment were also seized.
NDLEA Chairman Mohamed Buba Marwa commended officers involved in the operations and urged personnel across the country to sustain the agency’s drug-control efforts.
The latest operations underline the agency’s continued focus on airport trafficking, cross-border drug movement, illicit cultivation and the distribution of controlled substances.
