Wedding debt: Newlywed nabbed with cocaine

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has arrested a 25-year-old businessman, Lovely Chukwulobelu, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for allegedly attempting to traffic 72 wraps of cocaine to Portugal.

The NDLEA said the suspect resorted to drug trafficking to offset expenses incurred during his wedding on September 13, 2026.

The agency disclosed this in a statement by its Director, Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, on Sunday.

According to the statement, Chukwulobelu, who resides in Portugal, was intercepted by NDLEA operatives at the departure hall of the Enugu airport on Thursday, September 25, while attempting to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.

Babafemi said the suspect was found with cocaine concealed in his stomach and was wearing his wedding ring when he was arrested.

He said the suspect was subsequently placed under excretion observation, during which he egested 72 wraps of cocaine.

The statement partly read, “The groom was intercepted by NDLEA officers at the departure hall of the Enugu airport on Thursday, September 25, with cocaine in his gut and wedding ring on his finger, while he attempted to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.

“He was subsequently placed under excretion observation, during which he egested a total of 72 wraps of the Class A illicit drug.

“The suspect, who claimed he was into car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo area of Lagos, before he relocated to Portugal in May 2023, said he returned to Nigeria recently to get married on September 13, 2026.

“He said he resorted to the criminal trade to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.”

Babafemi also said 2,550,000 pills of Tramakings 225mg and 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg were recovered at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

He said the drugs, weighing 1,640.55kg, were uncovered during a joint examination of three monitored consignments imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.

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In Bauchi State, Babafemi said operatives arrested two suspects, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, with 300 compressed blocks of skunk weighing 262.5kg.

He said the cannabis was concealed in the false bottom of a truck marked MUB757 YH along the Maiduguri bypass.

Similarly, two cannabis farms with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23kg were destroyed at Eko Camp, Ilushi, Edo State, by the NDLEA officers supported by soldiers.

In Lagos, Babafemi said two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, with 3.4kg of skunk.

He added that another suspect, Ugwu Johnson, 58, was intercepted at the Ebute-Ero motor park with 5.920kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.

In Oyo State, two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were arrested along the Iganna-Ilero Road with 305.6kg of skunk concealed in two pickup vans.

The NDLEA spokesman said the suspects were allegedly involved in a cross-border trafficking racket moving Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.

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

The suspects were identified as Kingsley John, 40; John Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.

Two vehicles used to convey the consignment from the border into Lagos were also seized.

The NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended officers and men of the MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi Commands for the operations.

Marwa urged them and their colleagues across the country to sustain the agency’s ongoing balanced approach to drug control efforts.