A 25-year-old newlywed businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, has been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly attempting to traffic cocaine to Portugal through the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
According to a statement by the NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, September 27, Chukwulobelu was arrested on Thursday, September 25, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
The agency said its operatives intercepted him at the airport’s departure hall after detecting that he had ingested cocaine.
He was subsequently placed under excretion observation and allegedly expelled 72 wraps of cocaine.
The suspect, according to the NDLEA, told investigators that he operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.
He reportedly returned to Nigeria recently and got married on September 13.
The agency said Chukwulobelu claimed he became involved in the alleged drug trafficking in an attempt to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.
NDLEA seizes 2.55 million opioid pills in Lagos
The NDLEA also reported the seizure of 2.55 million pills of pharmaceutical opioids at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The agency said its operatives uncovered the consignment on Tuesday, September 22, during a joint examination of three monitored consignments at the airport’s import shed.
The seized drugs comprised Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilogrammes.
According to the NDLEA, the consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
Other arrests, seizures
In Bauchi State, NDLEA operatives arrested two men, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, with 300 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 262.5kg.
The agency said the cannabis, a strain known as skunk, was concealed in the false bottom of a truck along the Maiduguri bypass.
In Edo State, NDLEA officers, reportedly supported by soldiers, destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, with an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23kg.
“In Lagos, two female suspects: Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested on Saturday 26th September when NDLEA operatives raided Anifowoshe Street in Mushin where they recovered 3.4kg skunk 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,” the statement added.
It further noted that two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were arrested on the Iganna-Ilero road in Iganna in Oyo state over drug case.
The agency said 305.6kg of skunk was recovered from two pickup vans allegedly being used to transport cannabis sourced from Ghana into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.
At the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were also allegedly arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, weighing 1,688.4kg.
The suspects were identified as Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.
The NDLEA said two vehicles allegedly used to convey the consignment from the border into Lagos were also seized.
The agency said its commands across the country also continued its War Against Drug Abuse sensitisation campaigns in schools, religious centres, workplaces and communities during the week.
NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), commended officers involved in the operations and urged them to sustain the agency’s drug-control efforts.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M