He said he returned to Nigeria and got married on September 13, 2026, but allegedly resorted to drug trafficking to raise money to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 25-year-old businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, for allegedly swallowing 72 wraps of cocaine in an attempt to traffic the illicit drug to Portugal.
Chukwulobelu, who recently returned to Nigeria for his wedding, was arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, on Thursday, September 25, 2026, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Lisbon, Portugal, through Addis Ababa.
The suspect was subsequently placed under excretion observation, during which he expelled all 72 wraps of the Class A drug.
According to the NDLEA, Chukwulobelu told investigators that he operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.
He said he returned to Nigeria and got married on September 13, 2026, but allegedly resorted to drug trafficking to raise money to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.
This is just as NDLEA operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, uncovered one of the agency’s biggest opioid seizures of the year during the examination of three monitored consignments on Tuesday, September 22.
The consignments contained a total of 2,550,000 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55kg.
The consignments, which originated from India and Bangladesh, were brought into Nigeria aboard Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
Furthermore, operatives in Bauchi arrested two suspects, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg.
The cannabis was concealed in the false bottom of a truck, according to the agency.
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, during a raid on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, where 3.4kg of skunk was recovered.
In another operation in Lagos the same day, NDLEA operatives intercepted a 58-year-old man, Ugwu Johnson, at Ebute-Ero motor park.
He was allegedly found with 5.92kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 tablets of tramadol.
However, enforcement operations also extended to the Oyo axis, where two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were arrested along the Iganna-Ilero road with 305.6kg of skunk.
The cannabis was concealed in two pickup vans and was allegedly part of a cross-border network moving Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria through Oyo State.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were also arrested over the alleged trafficking of 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas.
The suspects, identified as Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47, were arrested with the consignment weighing 1,688.4kg.
Two vehicles allegedly used to convey the substance into Lagos were also seized.
Beyond arrests and seizures, NDLEA commands across the country continued with its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.
The sensitisation activities included lectures at Community High School, Saki, Oyo State; Auchi College, 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, Ogiame Atuwatshe III.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd), commended officers of the MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi commands for the operations.
Marwa urged personnel of the agency to sustain their commitment to the NDLEA’s balanced approach to drug control, combining enforcement operations with prevention, public awareness and community engagement.
I kept the wedding detail because it gives the Enugu arrest a clear human angle, but avoided allowing it to overshadow the much larger 2.55 million-pill opioid seizure, which gives the story its stronger national significance.