A 25-year-old businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for allegedly attempting to traffic cocaine to Portugal, after he was found to have ingested 72 wraps of the drug just days after his wedding.
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The arrest was disclosed in a statement issued by NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday. According to the statement, Chukwulobelu was intercepted at the departure hall of Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu on Thursday, September 25, 2026, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.
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The NDLEA said the suspect had swallowed 72 wraps of the Class A drug and was placed under excretion observation following his arrest, during which he subsequently passed all 72 wraps. The agency noted that he was still wearing his wedding ring at the time he was taken into custody, a detail it highlighted alongside the timing of his arrest.
Chukwulobelu reportedly told investigators that he had previously run a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023. He said he had recently returned to Nigeria and got married on September 13, 2026, and told investigators he turned to drug trafficking in an attempt to offset expenses incurred from the wedding.
At this stage, the account of the suspect’s motive comes from his own statement to investigators and has not been independently verified. The broader details of the case — including whether he acted alone or as part of a wider trafficking network — have not yet been disclosed by the agency. As is standard practice, further details are likely to emerge as the NDLEA’s investigation and any subsequent prosecution proceed.
Separately, the agency reported seizing 2.55 million opioid pills — a mix of Tramaking and Tapentadol tablets imported from India and Bangladesh — at Lagos’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport, along with 262.5kg of cannabis in Bauchi State and the destruction of two cannabis farms in Edo State.
In Lagos, raids in Mushin and at Ebute-Ero motor park led to further arrests and the recovery of skunk, pentazocine injections, nitrazepam tablets, and tramadol pills. Additional arrests involving cross-border cannabis trafficking were made in Oyo State, while five suspects were detained at the Seme border with over 1,600kg of nitrous oxide. NDLEA Chairman Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa commended officers involved in the operations and urged continued commitment to the agency’s enforcement efforts nationwide.
Source: Vanguard News.
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