Portugal-Bound Groom Excretes 72 Pellets of Cocaine

A 25-year-old newlywed who returned to Nigeria for his wedding was arrested at Enugu’s Akanu Ibiam International Airport after swallowing 72 wraps of cocaine in a bid to smuggle them to Portugal, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said on Sunday.

Lovely Chukwulobelu, a Portugal-based businessman, was intercepted on Thursday, 25 September 2026, in the departure hall while trying to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa. Officers noticed the wedding ring still on his finger as they detained him with the Class A drug already in his system. He was placed under medical observation and later expelled all 72 wraps.

According to NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi, Chukwulobelu previously ran a car-decoration business at the Trade Fair Complex in Ojo, Lagos, before relocating to Portugal in May 2023. He returned home recently and married on 13 September. He told investigators he turned to trafficking to recover money spent on the wedding.

The arrest formed part of a wider week of NDLEA operations that netted one of the year’s largest opioid hauls and multiple cannabis seizures across several states.

At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, officers on 22 September examined three monitored consignments from India and Bangladesh that arrived on Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines flights. They recovered 2.55 million pills of Tramaking (225 mg and 250 mg) and Royal Tapentadol 250 mg weighing a combined 1,640.55 kg. The agency valued the opioids at more than ₦3 billion.

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In Bauchi, operatives stopped a truck marked MUB 757 YH on the Maiduguri bypass and found 300 compressed blocks of skunk cannabis weighing 262.5 kg hidden in a false bottom. The two suspects arrested were identified as Umar Hamidu, 35, and Abdulkarim Salihu, 45. In Edo State, officers working with soldiers destroyed two cannabis farms at Eko Camp, Ilushi, with an estimated combined yield of 1,360.23 kg.

Lagos raids on 26 September yielded further seizures. Two women, Odumabo Kehinde, 36, and Obiekwe Chioma, 40, were arrested on Anifowoshe Street, Mushin, with 3.4 kg of skunk.

At Ebute-Ero motor park the same day, 58-year-old Ugwu Johnson was caught with 5.92 kg of skunk, 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection, 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam and 40,000 tramadol pills.

On the Iganna-Ilero road in Oyo State, officers intercepted two Togolese nationals, Yinusa Abdulsamad, 35, and Fatai Baba, 33, moving 305.6 kg of Ghanaian-sourced skunk in two pick-up vans as part of a cross-border trafficking network.

At the Seme border in Badagry, five suspects were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”) weighing 1,688.4 kg and the two vehicles used to transport the consignment.

Those detained were named as Kingsley John, 40; John Chibuike Okeke, 44; Lamidi Ismaila, 40; Babatunde Samuel, 42; and Afeesu Idowu, 47.

Alongside the enforcement actions, NDLEA commands continued War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation lectures in schools and communities in Oyo, Edo, Gombe and Kano states, and paid an advocacy visit to the Olu of Warri in Delta State.

NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) commended the officers involved in the Enugu, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme and Bauchi operations and urged sustained balanced efforts combining interdiction with public awareness.