Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a 25-year-old newlywed businessman Lovely Chukwulobelu at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, 12 days after his wedding.
He was arrested while attempting to traffic 72 wraps of cocaine which he ingested, to Portugal where he resides.
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 wedding ring on his finger, while he attempted to board an Ethiopian Airline flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.
He was subsequently placed under observation during which he excreted a total of 72 wraps of the Class A cocaine.
The suspect claimed he was into car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo area of Lagos before he relocated to Portugal in May 2023.
According to the suspect, he returned to Nigeria for his marriage on 13th September 2026, and resorted to the criminal trade to offset expenses incurred during the wedding.
Meanwhile, at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos, NDLEA operatives on Tuesday 22nd September 2026 uncovered one of the year’s biggest opioid hauls during a joint examination of three monitored consignments that led to the seizure of Two Million Five Hundred and Fifty-Five Thousand pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg, and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilograms.
The consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh via Qatar Airways, RwandAir, and Ethiopian Airlines.
In Bauchi, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects: Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 262.5kg, concealed in the false bottom of a truck marked MUB757 YH.
The Agency said it also uncovered two cannabis farms with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23kg at Eko Camp, Ilushi, Edo state, which were destroyed by NDLEA officers supported by soldiers on Wednesday 23rd September.
In Lagos, operatives arrested two female suspects: Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, on Saturday 26th September following raid on Anifowoshe Street in Mushin where 3.4kg skunk was recovered from them.
In another operation in Lagos same day, NDLEA officers intercepted a 58-year-old man Ugwu Johnson at Ebute-Ero motor park, with large quantities of illicit consignments, including: 5.920kg skunk; 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam; and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
Similarly, two Togolese nationals: Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were nabbed by NDLEA officers on Saturday 26th September at Iganna-Ilero road, Iganna, Oyo state with 305.6kg of skunk concealed in two pick-up vans used for cross-border trafficking. They were moving Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria through the Oyo axis at the point of arrest.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide popularly called laughing gas weighing 1,688.4kg, along with two vehicles used in conveying the exhibit from the border into Lagos.
The suspects are Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.
Never miss a moment! Get the stories shaping Nigeria, delivered straight to your phone. Follow Peoplesdaily Newspaper on WhatsApp for breaking news, exclusive reports, and the headlines everyone will be talking about, before anyone else.
