NDLEA Nabs Newlywed Businessman Who Allegedly Swallowed 72 Cocaine Wraps to Offset Wedding Costs
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 25-year-old newlywed businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, alleging he ingested 72 wraps of cocaine in an attempt to traffic the drug to Portugal, where he resides.
According to a statement issued Sunday by the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, Chukwulobelu was intercepted at the airport’s departure hall on Thursday, September 25, 2026, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa, still wearing his wedding ring at the time of his arrest. Officers said they detected suspected cocaine in his system and placed him under excretion observation, during which he allegedly expelled all 72 wraps of the Class A drug.
The NDLEA said Chukwulobelu told investigators he had previously operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023. According to the agency, he had recently returned to Nigeria and got married on September 13, 2026, with the NDLEA alleging he resorted to drug trafficking specifically to help offset expenses incurred from the wedding. It should be stressed that these remain allegations at this stage, and Chukwulobelu has not been convicted of any offence.
Chukwulobelu’s arrest formed part of a broader series of drug interdiction operations disclosed by the NDLEA in the same statement, covering activity across several states over the preceding days. At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, operatives intercepted 2,550,000 opioid pills, comprising Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg tablets with a combined weight of 1,640.55 kilogrammes, uncovered during the joint examination of three monitored consignments imported from India and Bangladesh via Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines. In Bauchi State, two suspects, aged 35 and 45, were arrested along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5 kilogrammes, concealed in a false compartment of a truck. In Edo State, NDLEA officers, supported by soldiers, destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23 kilogrammes.
Further arrests were recorded in Lagos, where two women aged 36 and 40 were detained during a raid on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, with 3.4 kilogrammes of skunk recovered, while a 58-year-old man was intercepted at Ebute-Ero Motor Park with 5.92 kilogrammes of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol. Two Togolese nationals, aged 35 and 33, were also arrested along the Iganna-Ilero Road in Oyo State, with the agency alleging they were part of a cross-border trafficking network moving cannabis sourced from Ghana into Nigeria.
NDLEA Chairman, Brigadier-General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), used the statement to reiterate calls for continued vigilance from officers and members of the public in tackling drug trafficking across the country. As of the time of reporting, all individuals named in connection with the various operations remain suspects whose cases are pending formal prosecution, and are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
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