Newlywed businessman nabbed for cocaine at Enugu airport, excretes 72 wraps 

Newlywed businessman ‘excretes 72 wraps of cocaine’ at Enugu airport

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested Lovely Chukwulobelu, a 25-year-old businessman, for allegedly attempting to smuggle 72 wraps of cocaine into Portugal.

Femi Babafemi, NDLEA director of media and advocacy, shared the details in a statement on Sunday.

Babafemi said Chukwulobelu was arrested on September 25 at the departure hall of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.

He said the suspect had ingested the cocaine and was placed under excretion observation, during which he expelled 72 wraps of the drug.

According to the statement, Chukwulobelu, who resides in Portugal, returned to Nigeria recently and got married on September 13.

The suspect, who previously operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023, reportedly said he ventured into drug trafficking to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.

NDLEA SEIZES 2.5 MILLION OPIOID PILLS IN LAGOS

The agency also seized 2.55 million pills of tramadol and tapentadol during an operation at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on September 22.

Babafemi said the seizure followed a joint examination of three monitored consignments imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.

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

In Bauchi, 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 drugs were concealed in a false bottom of a truck marked MUB757 YH.

In Edo, NDLEA operatives, 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.

NDLEA ARRESTS SUSPECTS IN LAGOS, OYO

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In Lagos, two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested during a raid on Anifowoshe Street in Mushin on September 26.

The operatives recovered 3.4kg of skunk from the suspects.

On the same day, the agency arrested 58-year-old Ugwu Johnson at Ebute-Ero motor park, where officers recovered 5.92kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.

In Oyo, two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were arrested along the Iganna-Ilero road in Iganna on September 26.

The suspects were allegedly transporting 305.6kg of skunk concealed in two pick-up vans as part of a cross-border trafficking operation involving cannabis sourced from Ghana.

Meanwhile, five suspects were arrested at the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, popularly known as laughing gas, weighing 1,688.4kg.

The suspects are Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.

Two vehicles allegedly used to transport the consignments from the border into Lagos were also seized.

The NDLEA also conducted its War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation campaign in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities across the country during the week.

The activities included lectures at Community High School, Saki, Oyo state; Auchi College, Edo state; Alkali Modibbo Islamic Centre, Gombe state; and Junior Arabic Secondary School, Kahu, Kano state.

The agency’s Delta Ports Command also visited the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatshe III, for a WADA advocacy campaign.

Mohamed Buba Marwa, NDLEA chairman, commended officers of the agency’s commands in Lagos, Enugu, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi for the operations.

He urged officers across the country to sustain the agency’s balanced approach to drug control.