27.9.2026
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) agents have arrested a 25-year-old newlywed businessman Chukwulobelu Lovely at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for allegedly attempting to traffic 72 wraps of cocaine to Portugal.
The suspect 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.
According to the NDLEA, in a statement on Sunday, the suspect had ingested the cocaine and was placed under excretion observation after his arrest.
The agency said he subsequently excreted all 72 wraps of the Class A illicit drug.
The suspect reportedly told investigators that he had been involved in a car decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.
He was said to have returned to Nigeria recently and got married on September 13, 2026.
The agency also said the suspect said he resorted to the alleged drug trafficking in an attempt to offset expenses incurred during his wedding.
In a separate operation at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, NDLEA operatives seized what the agency described as one of its biggest opioid hauls of the year.
The seizure followed a joint examination of three monitored consignments on Tuesday, September 22.
The agency said a total of 2,550,000 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg and Royal Tapentadol 250mg were recovered.
The consignments had a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilogrammes and were imported from India and Bangladesh through Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines.
In Bauchi State, NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects, aged 35 and 45, along the Maiduguri bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 262.5 kilogrammes.
The agency said the cannabis was 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.
In Lagos, two women, aged 36 and 40, were arrested on Saturday, September 26, during a raid on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, where 3.4 kilogrammes of skunk were recovered.
On the same day, NDLEA officers intercepted a 58-year-old man at Ebute-Ero motor park and recovered 5.920 kilogrammes of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 pills of tramadol.