By Ade Oyeyemi
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 smuggle cocaine to Portugal.
Chukwulobelu, who recently got married, was arrested on Thursday, September 25, while allegedly preparing to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal through Addis Ababa.
The suspect, who reportedly resides in Portugal, was allegedly found with cocaine concealed in his stomach and was still wearing his wedding ring when NDLEA operatives intercepted him.
The agency said he was placed under excretion observation, during which he expelled 72 wraps of cocaine.
The NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, disclosed the arrest in a statement on Sunday.
According to Babafemi, the suspect told investigators that he previously operated a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.
The agency said Chukwulobelu returned to Nigeria recently and got married on September 13. He reportedly told investigators that he became involved in the alleged drug trafficking in an attempt to recover money spent on his wedding.
The NDLEA also reported several other drug-related arrests and seizures across the country.
At the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, operatives recovered 2,550,000 pills of Tramakings 225mg and 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, weighing 1,640.55kg.
The agency said the pharmaceutical drugs were discovered during a joint examination of three consignments imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
In Bauchi State, two suspects, Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45, were arrested with 300 compressed blocks of cannabis weighing 262.5kg. The consignment was allegedly concealed in the false compartment of a truck marked MUB757 YH along the Maiduguri bypass.
The agency also said two cannabis farms with an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23kg were destroyed at Eko Camp, Ilushi, Edo State, during an operation involving NDLEA personnel and soldiers.
In Lagos, operatives arrested two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, at Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, with 3.4kg of cannabis.
Another suspect, 58-year-old Ugwu Johnson, was reportedly intercepted at Ebute-Ero motor park with 5.920kg of cannabis, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
In Oyo State, the NDLEA said two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, were arrested along the Iganna-Ilero road with 305.6kg of cannabis allegedly concealed in two pickup vans.
Babafemi said the suspects were allegedly part of a cross-border trafficking network moving cannabis sourced from Ghana into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.
At the Seme border in Lagos, five suspects were also arrested over the alleged importation of 420 cartons of nitrous oxide, commonly 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 allegedly used to transport the consignment from the border were also seized.
The NDLEA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd.), commended personnel involved in the operations across the affected commands.
Marwa urged officers and their colleagues nationwide to sustain the agency’s drug-control operations and intensify efforts against the trafficking and distribution of illicit substances.
