A 25-year-old newlywed businessman has been arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu for allegedly ingesting 72 wraps of cocaine in an attempt to traffic the drug to Portugal, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency said Sunday.
The suspect, Lovely Chukwulobelu, was intercepted by NDLEA officers at the airport’s departure hall on Thursday while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
The agency said Chukwulobelu, who had recently returned to Nigeria for his wedding, was placed under excretion observation after cocaine was detected in his system. He subsequently excreted all 72 wraps of the Class A drug.
According to the NDLEA, the suspect told investigators that he previously operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.
He reportedly returned to Nigeria recently and got married on Sept. 13. The agency said he told investigators that he resorted to drug trafficking to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, NDLEA operatives also seized 2.55 million opioid pills weighing 1,640.55 kilograms during a joint examination of three monitored consignments at the airport’s import shed.
The seizure, made on Tuesday, involved 2.55 million pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg. The consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
The agency described the seizure as one of its biggest opioid interceptions of the year, with the consignment estimated by the NDLEA to be worth more than N3 billion.
In Bauchi, NDLEA officers arrested two suspects, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5 kilograms.
The agency said the cannabis was concealed in the false bottom of a truck marked MUB757 YH.
In Edo State, two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23 kilograms, were destroyed by NDLEA officers supported by soldiers on Wednesday.
In Lagos, two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested on Saturday during a raid on Anifowoshe Street in Mushin, where 3.4 kilograms of skunk were recovered, according to the agency.
On the same day, NDLEA officers intercepted a 58-year-old man, Ugwu Johnson, at Ebute-Ero motor park with 5.92 kilograms of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
The agency also reported the arrest of two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, along the Iganna-Ilero Road in Iganna, Oyo State.
The suspects were allegedly found with 305.6 kilograms of skunk concealed in two pickup vans. The NDLEA said the vehicles were being used to move Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria through the Oyo axis as part of a cross-border trafficking operation.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, weighing 1,688.4 kilograms.
The suspects were identified as Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.
The NDLEA said two vehicles allegedly used to transport the consignment from the border into Lagos were also seized.
The agency said its commands and formations across the country also continued with War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities during the week.
The activities included sensitisation programmes at 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 War Against Drug Abuse advocacy visit to the Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.
The NDLEA disclosed the arrests and seizures in a statement signed by its Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026.
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