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 (AIIA), Enugu, after allegedly ingesting 72 wraps of cocaine bound for Portugal.
Chukwulobelu was arrested last Thursday in the airport’s departure hall while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.
The suspect was subsequently placed under excretion observation and eventually expelled all 72 wraps of the Class A drug.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, the suspect told investigators that he previously worked as a car decorator at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.
Babafemi said Chukwulobelu recently returned to Nigeria and got married on September 13, but allegedly resorted to drug trafficking in an attempt to offset expenses incurred during the wedding.
The arrest was among a series of major drug seizures and arrests recorded by the NDLEA across the country and at international entry points during the past week.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, NDLEA operatives last Tuesday uncovered one of the agency’s largest opioid seizures of the year during a joint examination of three monitored consignments at the airport’s import shed.
The consignments contained 2.55 million pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilogrammes.
The agency said the consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines. Their estimated street value was put at more than N3 billion.
In Bauchi State, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass for allegedly transporting 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, operatives, supported by soldiers, destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, last Wednesday. The farms had an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23kg of cannabis.
The agency also arrested two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, at Iganna-Ilero Road, Iganna, Oyo State.
The suspects were intercepted on Saturday with 305.6kg of skunk concealed in two pickup vans.
NDLEA said preliminary investigations indicated that the suspects were allegedly involved in a cross-border trafficking operation moving Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.
In Lagos, operatives raided Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, on Saturday and arrested two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, with 3.4kg of skunk.
At Ebute-Ero motor park the same day, NDLEA operatives intercepted 58-year-old Ugwu Johnson with several consignments of illicit drugs, including 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were arrested in connection with the movement of 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas.
The consignment weighed 1,688.4kg and was intercepted alongside two vehicles allegedly used to transport it from the border into Lagos.
The suspects were identified as Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.
Beyond seizures and arrests, the NDLEA said its commands and formations nationwide continued to conduct War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation programmes in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.
The NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), commended personnel of the MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi Commands for the operations.
Marwa urged officers and men across the country to sustain the agency’s approach combining drug interdiction, prosecution, prevention and public sensitisation.
The latest operations highlight the continuing challenges posed by cocaine trafficking, illicit pharmaceutical opioids, cannabis cultivation and cross-border drug networks confronting Nigeria’s drug control authorities.
