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. He was intercepted at the airport's departure hall on Thursday, September 25, while preparing to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa. NDLEA operatives detected that he had ingested cocaine and placed him under excretion observation.
Chukwulobelu subsequently expelled all 72 wraps of the Class A illicit drug. The suspect reportedly told NDLEA operatives 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 allegedly became involved in drug trafficking in an attempt to offset expenses incurred during his wedding, which took place on September 13.
According to NDLEA spokesman, Babafemi, Chukwulobelu's arrest was part of a series of operations that resulted in the seizure of over N3 billion worth of illicit drugs. In Lagos, NDLEA operatives intercepted one of the agency's largest opioid consignments of the year, seizing 2,550,000 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg, and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, weighing a combined 1,640.55 kilogrammes.
The consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir, and Ethiopian Airlines. The operation was conducted on Tuesday, September 22, during a joint examination of three monitored consignments. This seizure is a significant blow to the illicit drug trade in Nigeria.
In other operations, NDLEA officers 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 a false compartment of a truck marked MUB757 YH. In Edo State, NDLEA operatives destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23kg of cannabis.
NDLEA operatives also made several other seizures across the country. In Lagos, two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested with 3.4kg of skunk. In a separate operation, 58-year-old Ugwu Johnson was arrested with 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam, and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), commended officers and men of the MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme, and Bauchi Commands for their operations. Marwa urged NDLEA personnel nationwide to sustain the agency's balanced approach to drug control, combining enforcement with prevention, public education, and community engagement.
Key points
- The NDLEA seized over N3 billion worth of illicit drugs in a series of operations across Nigeria.
- A 25-year-old businessman was arrested for ingesting 72 wraps of cocaine to traffic to Portugal.
- The NDLEA destroyed two cannabis farms in Edo State with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23kg of cannabis.
