The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 25-year-old businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 72 wraps of cocaine to Portugal.
The NDLEA said the suspect, who recently got married, told investigators that he turned to drug trafficking to recover expenses incurred during his wedding.
The agency disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.
According to the statement, Chukwulobelu was arrested at the airport’s departure hall on Thursday, September 25, 2026, while preparing to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
Babafemi said the suspect had cocaine concealed in his stomach when he was apprehended and was still wearing his wedding ring.
He was subsequently placed under excretion observation, during which he expelled 72 wraps of cocaine.
The statement partly read, “The groom was intercepted by NDLEA officers at the departure hall of the Enugu airport on Thursday, 25th September 2026, with cocaine in his gut and a wedding ring on his finger, while he attempted to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa. He was subsequently placed under excretion observation during which he egested a total of 72 wraps of the Class A illicit drug.
“The suspect, who claimed he was into the car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo area of Lagos before he relocated to Portugal in May 2023, said he returned to Nigeria recently to get married on 13th September 2026.
“He said he resorted to the criminal trade to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.”
Babafemi also disclosed that NDLEA operatives recovered 2,550,000 pills of Tramakings 225mg and 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The pharmaceutical drugs, weighing 1,640.55kg, were discovered during a joint inspection of three monitored consignments imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
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In Bauchi State, NDLEA officers arrested two suspects, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, after recovering 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg.
Babafemi said the cannabis was hidden in a false compartment of a truck with registration number MUB757 YH 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. The operation was carried out by NDLEA personnel with support from soldiers.
Meanwhile, two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested at Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, Lagos, 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 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 along the Iganna-Ilero road with 305.6kg of skunk concealed inside two pickup vans.
According to the NDLEA spokesman, the suspects were allegedly part of a cross-border trafficking network transporting cannabis sourced from Ghana into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were arrested over a consignment of 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, commonly called laughing gas, weighing 1,688.4kg.
The suspects were identified as Kingsley John, 40; John Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.
Two vehicles allegedly used to transport the consignment from the border into Lagos were also seized.
The NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended personnel of the MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi Commands for their operations.
Marwa urged the officers and their colleagues across the country to maintain the agency’s ongoing balanced approach to drug control efforts.