Newlywed held with 72 cocaine wraps at Enugu Airport
A newlywed businessman was stopped at an airport in southeastern Nigeria with 72 wraps of cocaine in his stomach, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
Lovely Chukwulobelu, 25, was arrested on Thursday, September 25, at the departure hall of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, as he prepared to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
Abimbola Joseph
A newlywed businessman was stopped at an airport in southeastern Nigeria with 72 wraps of cocaine in his stomach, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
Lovely Chukwulobelu, 25, was arrested on Thursday, September 25, at the departure hall of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, as he prepared to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
The agency said Chukwulobelu had swallowed the cocaine before his journey and was placed under observation after his arrest. He later excreted all 72 wraps.
He was still wearing his wedding ring when NDLEA officers arrested him, the agency said.
The arrest came less than two weeks after Chukwulobelu’s wedding on September 13. Investigators were told he had recently returned to Nigeria after living in Portugal, where he moved in May 2023.
Before leaving Nigeria, the agency said, he operated a car-decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, Lagos.
According to the NDLEA, Chukwulobelu told investigators that the financial demands of his wedding had contributed to his decision to traffic drugs.
The agency’s spokesman, Femi Babafemi, disclosed the arrest in a statement on Sunday.
The Enugu arrest was one of several drug-enforcement operations reported by the NDLEA during the week, involving cocaine, cannabis, opioids and nitrous oxide.
Millions of opioid pills seized
At Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, NDLEA officers seized 2.55 million opioid pills during a joint examination of three monitored consignments.
The consignments contained Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55kg.
The agency said the drugs were imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
Cannabis seizures across three states
In Bauchi, officers arrested Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg.
The cannabis was allegedly hidden in a false compartment of a truck marked MUB757 YH.
In Edo State, NDLEA officers, assisted by soldiers, destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi. The farms had an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23kg.
In Oyo State, two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were arrested with 305.6kg of skunk.
The cannabis was allegedly concealed in two pickup vans. NDLEA said it had been sourced from Ghana and moved into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.
Lagos raids uncover drugs and nitrous oxide
Two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested during a raid on Anifowoshe Street in Mushin, Lagos, on Saturday. Officers recovered 3.4kg of skunk, the agency said.
At Ebute-Ero motor park, officers arrested Ugwu Johnson, 58, and recovered 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
At the Seme border in Badagry, five men were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas.
The consignment weighed 1,688.4kg, while two vehicles allegedly used to move it from the border into Lagos were also seized.
The suspects were identified as Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.
The NDLEA also reported continued anti-drug awareness campaigns in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities in several states. Its chairman, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged personnel to maintain enforcement and prevention efforts against drug trafficking and abuse.
