NDLEA Arrests Europe-Bound Groom with 72 Cocaine Wraps, Seizes 2.55m Opioid Pills

Oru Leonard

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted an array of illicit drug across the country, including the arrest of a newlywed businessman who allegedly ingested 72 wraps of cocaine while attempting to travel to Portugal.

The 25-year-old suspect, Lovely Chukwulobelu, was arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, on Thursday, September 25, 2026, while preparing to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.

NDLEA said the suspect, who had his wedding ring on, was stopped at the departure hall after officers discovered that he had ingested cocaine. He was subsequently placed under excretion observation and later expelled all 72 wraps of the drug.

According to the agency, Chukwulobelu told investigators that he previously operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.

He reportedly returned to Nigeria recently and got married on September 13, 2026, but allegedly turned to drug trafficking to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.

In another major operation, NDLEA operatives at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, seized 2,550,000 pills of various opioids during a joint examination of three monitored consignments on Tuesday, September 22.

The seized drugs comprised Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilogrammes.

The consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.

In Bauchi State, two suspects, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, were arrested along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg.

The cannabis was allegedly concealed in a false compartment of a truck with registration number MUB757 YH.

In Edo State, NDLEA officers, supported by soldiers, destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, on 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 during a raid on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, on September 26.

NDLEA said 3.4kg of skunk was recovered from the suspects.

On the same day, operatives intercepted a 58-year-old man, Ugwu Johnson, at Ebute-Ero motor park, where they allegedly recovered 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.

Two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were also arrested along the Iganna-Ilero Road in Iganna, Oyo State.

The suspects were allegedly transporting 305.6kg of skunk concealed in two pickup vans as part of a cross-border trafficking operation involving cannabis sourced from Ghana and moved into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.

At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, NDLEA officers arrested five suspects and recovered 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas.

The consignment weighed 1,688.4kg and was allegedly being transported 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.

Meanwhile, NDLEA Commands and formations across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaigns in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities.

The agency listed sensitisation activities 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 WADA advocacy visit to the Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III, in Delta State.

Commending the officers and men of the MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi Commands for the operations, NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), urged personnel nationwide to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.

He stressed the need for continued enforcement alongside preventive and sensitisation efforts under the agency’s drug control strategy.

(NDLEA Media, September 26, 2026)